I tried to install a simple board and batten wall in my front entryway last month. The tutorial I read said to just take the total width of the wall and divide it evenly by the number of vertical boards I wanted. I did the math on a torn envelope. It sounded completely straightforward.
I glued and nailed the first three primed pine boards into the drywall using my brad nailer. When I got to the fourth board, my perfectly even spacing placed the wood directly over the center of the only electrical outlet on that wall.
I could not just move the board two inches to the left because then the entire grid would look obviously lopsided. I refuse to do electrical work so I could not move the outlet box.
I had to carefully pry the first three boards back off the wall with a flat metal crowbar. It pulled the paper face right off the drywall. I had to patch the torn paper with spackle and completely recalculate the math to make sure the boards fell exactly between the outlet and the hall closet door.
Do not just divide your wall evenly. Mark every single vertical board on the wall with a pencil before you touch the nail gun. You will always hit a wall plug if you do not draw it out first.