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How-To make a cheap shiplap wall
The How-To is finally here on our DIY Shiplap Wall Hack that I am so in love with! You guys, thank you for following along as we tried this out. I am so happy it worked and looks so good. We spent only $60 on all the wood you see here for all 3 walls we wrapped!
How to build a faux shiplap wall?
With a TON of research. We read a lot of blog posts and watched a few How-To videos. I have attached a link to a great How-To video below for your more visual learners. We did a few things differently than he did but you will get the general idea on the process.
Before & After Photos of DIY Shiplap
These photos below are what the house looked like when we first bought it. We had to remove a 21′ load-bearing wall to combine 2 smaller rooms into 1 room then we built the space that became my office and this is where we put our faux shiplap. All the beauty for a fraction of the cost!
Yep our life was really this messy The white dresser acted as our visual for the wall The wall actually built Shiplap Going Up The Inspo Sketch Sheetrock Faux Shiplap Painted
How-To make fake shiplap
Fake Shiplap Wood
We used Underlayment or Luan. Very cheap and you can grab it at Lowes or Home Depot. There are 2 options, so for the slightly more expensive one. It is easier to strip as it is a little thicker and it doesn't splinter as easily. We did not line up the planks like in my sketch above, we staggered them.
Fake Shiplap Supplies
We ripped the boards ourselves using a Kreg Rip-Cut attached to our Skill Saw. This makes a DIY table saw that is cheap! But you can also ask your local hardware store to cut it for you. A friend told me Home Depot cut her's for free. Also, we used tile spacers to space our boards. And we did sand, putty, and calk as he suggested in the video above. We also used a Nail Gun to attach the wood to the walls. We used some wood glue to attach the Luan to each other at the corners.
How to paint fake shiplap
After researching and reading (and hearing) nightmare stories about the cracks between boards filling with paint we decided to Prime, Sand, then Paint all with a Paint Sprayer and it worked perfectly. We had 0 problems with the spaces between the boards filling with paint. Easy Peasy! We used Sherwin Williams ProMar 200 in Creamy.
Unpainted w/ Nail Holes filled Finished Wall Finished Corners
Faux Shiplap Wall Photos
June 2020 – 1 year later and the shiplap still looks amazing! It has endured 1 year of abuse from a family of 4 LOL and done it with style! This shiplap hack is the real deal! No sagging, no splintering, easy to wipe down, and we have never had a board pop loose. I had so many concerns about not use the expensive, real shiplap and now I am so glad we didn't. This is the best $60 we have ever spent!
Here is the space now that it is decorated. It is our office and it is wonderful! The French doors are from Lowes, the natural wood doors and we stained them. They not only look beautiful but offer me the option to work in complete silence or with 1 door open to listen for kiddos. The wallpaper on the back wall is from PhotoWall Sweden and it is called Into the Tide, easy to hang & very fairly priced, check them out here. The gorgeous mirror on that same wall is from DecoCrated and they are a decor subscription box that also has an online retail store, check them out here.
The desk and rug are from IKEA from about 4 years ago. The small desk along the wall is for my kiddos and it was my great grandmother's makeup desk that we refinished. The long white piece against the wallpaper wall was a hand me down and I have no idea where it is from but I love it! The light is from Wayfair. All in all, we could not be more pleased with this space. It was built on a budget and love and serves our family so well.
There are a couple of great options to use to get the shiplap look without the shiplap costs. Check out our Fake Shiplap How-to to learn more.
There are a couple different options. For the fake shiplap office wall we used Luann. But our chevron master bedroom wall we used a slightly different underlayment.
Use wood filler or caulk to fill in the gaps and nail holes. Once you paint it, it will look perfect!
No, with the uptick in DIY and a mutual distaste for sheetrock work, the shiplap style is actually evolving and growing. See our DIY Faux Shiplap Chevron wall!
No, you can install it over sheetrock or you can install it on a stud wall.
Thank you for following along. If you have any questions please comment here, on social media, or email us samantha@thepinkenvelope.com I don't promise we will have an answer, but we can at least chat! Have a beautiful day!
