DIY Shiplap Wall for $50
Shiplap walls are all the rage. They can totally change the look of a room, they are easy to do and inexpensive if you pick the right material and have access to a table saw…or a great dad. I have shiplapped my office wall (shown here), the powder bath ceiling and up next, a “drop zone” by the garage door. Super easy, cheap, and covers up bad wallpaper or paint without the prep work! And I can’t even begin to tell you how much I LOVE my home office!
Investment
Money | $50 depending on how much wood you need and what supplies you need to buy, but shouldn’t be much more than this!
Time | Depends on how large the space is, but I’d estimate 8 hours total
Supplies*
Luan wood. This will come in an 8’ sheet you need to “rip” into the desired widths. Access to a table saw is ideal to do this, but it’s not hard!
White latex paint
Tile spacers or nickels!
Sanding block (180 grit)
Roller and paint brush
Finishing or brad nail gun to minimize the nails showing when you’re done
Silicone caulk or other construction adhesive
Steps
Measure your wall to calculate how much wood you’ll need and go to the store. :)
Paint the wall with one coat of white paint you plan to put the shiplap on. This is because you will see through the slats and it will not look right if it’s not white!
Cut the wood into desired widths. Mine are about 7.5”. This is a total personal preference, no right or wrong! We're not cutting lengths yet, just width.
Sand the edges of the wood and paint edges with brush and then roll one coat on top. Make sure you do one continuous “finishing roll” to not show any start/stop lap marks. We are only doing one coat on these, so do it right!
Now you’re going to tackle the art of this project and actually put it on the wall. Look at my sample. You don’t want lines and a definitive pattern - that’s not what shiplap looks like! Remember things always look better in thirds, so for my wall, I tried to do three lengths per row. I started in the middle at the top of where my desk was going to end up with pretty much a full 8’ length. MAKE SURE YOUR FIRST “LINE” IS STRAIGHT.” The best way to do this is measure from the floor or the ceiling in several places across the wall and then apply painters tape. This is your straight line you are going to work from.
Apply silicone or adhesive to back of first middle board (don’t get too close to edges) and then use nail gun to hold it in place. Do two nails on each end in the corners and a few across the middle towards the outside of the board. The glue is really what’s going to hold it on the wall, this is just kind of tacking it up there, so no need to go crazy because you’re going to have to fill all these nails holes later…
Make appropriate cuts to apply boards on ends of this row. Apply in same fashion as step 4. You can choose to butt the ends of the boards together or leave a small gap. I did some of each on my wall. Might depend on how accurate your cuts are! ;)
Now, for your next row, you’re going to start on an end. Look at where you want the end of your board to end and cut accordingly. Use a couple of tile spacers to allow 3/16” between rows. Continue in this same fashion up or down your wall depending if you started on the floor or the ceiling.
Fill nail holes with a little spackle. Let dry 20-30 min and lightly sand.
Optional: finish edges with a small trim piece of choice. I felt like I needed it because all of my ends were not cut exactly, but you might do better! I used the tiniest possibly piece I could find at the hardware store and just tacked it up with a few nails.
DONE!
Enjoy the Project
Playlist | This is Thomas Rhett
Wine | The Pinot Project
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