Perla Reynolds
We have shiplap all over our house and its clean lines make it one of my favorite design elements to use! Shiplap is visually clean, minimal and simple, but all the lines also add really great interest and texture to any room, wall, or ceiling. So it’s an extremely versatile type of paneling that makes for a beautiful accent or design feature! Shiplap is pretty easy to install as long as you plan your project out well and have the right tools on hand. *Note 2: If you’re using wood paneling or shiplap, I recommend to let it sit and acclimatize to your interior temperature and humidity for a week or two before using it, so allow for that time. Home Depot | Amazon (to cut around outlets etc) Drill: Home Depot | Amazon (you’ll need this to cut a hole in the middle of your board – drill is needed to make a hole in each corner of your cutout for your jig saw blade.
Home Depot | Amazon (you’ll need this to cut a hole in the middle of your board – drill is needed to make a hole in each corner of your cutout for your jig saw blade. Almost any walls or ceiling you decide to shiplap will not perfectly fit full boards across it.
Almost any walls or ceiling you decide to shiplap will not perfectly fit full boards across it. When you’re calculating how much shiplap you’ll need for a given project, it’s usually safe to count on about 10% extra for waste – better to have too much material than too little.
When you’re calculating how much shiplap you’ll need for a given project, it’s usually safe to count on about 10% extra for waste – better to have too much material than too little. And also consider which parts of your shiplap (if any) will be covered by baseboard or crown molding because that’ll affect how much of the boards will be visible.
And also consider which parts of your shiplap (if any) will be covered by baseboard or crown molding because that’ll affect how much of the boards will be visible. Also, it’s best to plan to always have the seam on a stud so that you can nail both then ends of both the boards butting up next to each other into the stud (if you don’t do this, they can bow outward and your seam will be more visible) so it’s worth it to do this even if you end up losing a bit of length off your board.
Also, it’s best to plan to always have the seam on a stud so that you can nail both then ends of both the boards butting up next to each other into the stud (if you don’t do this, they can bow outward and your seam will be more visible) so it’s worth it to do this even if you end up losing a bit of length off your board.
Once you start installing your shiplap, it is helpful to have the ‘notch’ side facing the direction you want to go because it will make it easier to interlock new boards (see middle pic below). If you scroll back up, you can see an example of this in the top left picture at the start of this post. I would think you can also buy this type of trim from a specialty hardware store or wood shop but I’ve had no luck finding trim of this exact size in stores so it’s easier to make my own.
If you scroll back up, you can see an example of this in the top left picture at the start of this post. I would think you can also buy this type of trim from a specialty hardware store or wood shop but I’ve had no luck finding trim of this exact size in stores so it’s easier to make my own.
If you’re using natural wood shiplap that you’re going to either leave raw or stain, then you may not wish to finish it quite the same way. Use your finger to run over the bead of caulk and shmoosh it into the seam while smoothing it out.
Fill in all your nail holes and seams between boards with wood filler and a putty knife. Sand everything you used wood filler on (nail holes and seams between boards) until smooth.
), and finally cleaning a paint sprayer is beyond frustrating so if you have the patience for that, all power to you. But I like to stick with a traditional, easy peasy brush and roller.
If you brush and roller properly, the end result is just as smooth as spraying.
), and finally cleaning a paint sprayer is beyond frustrating so if you have the patience for that, all power to you.
But I like to stick with a traditional, easy peasy brush and roller. If you’re painting vertical shiplap white and you find that your lines between boards are “disappearing”, I recommend painting the lines with a small brush in a very light gray color – I did this in our game room and in the nook at the end of our basement hallway (behind the wood art) and found that it made a huge difference in making the shiplap pop.
and you find that your lines between boards are “disappearing”, I recommend painting the lines with a small brush in a very light gray color – I did this in our game room and in the nook at the end of our basement hallway (behind the wood art) and found that it made a huge difference in making the shiplap pop. Feather your brush strokes carefully to leave the boards smooth and with no paint streak lines or drip marks. Feather your brush strokes carefully to leave the boards smooth and with no paint streak lines or drip marks.
The paint colors we’ve used are recapped on this page: Paint Colors and Stain Recap, and also posted on the individual room “sources pages” on our website so pick any room you want to know about, go to that source page, and you’ll find the relevant paint colors we used listed at the bottom. Regarding paint sheen , we’ve used both flat and satin on shiplap and love the look of both. In our theater room, we had this white exterior door in the middle of all our shiplap whose location we couldn’t change (for reasons) so my goal was to visually minimize it while keeping it accessible.
Finally, I decided to simply hide it in plain sight by painting gray shiplap lines onto it continuing the shadow lines of the real shiplap boards surrounding the door! I used frog tape (Home Depot), which is better than painter’s tape, to connect the shiplap boards on either side of the door (including the trim to keep the lines seamless) and then just painted the lines gray. I mixed different grays I had lying around my house so I don’t have a specific color to share but this project was low-risk since I could always paint it back to white if needed. If you live in a really dusty climate and have your windows open a lot, I suppose that might change things, but it hasn’t been an issue for us.
If you live in a really dusty climate and have your windows open a lot, I suppose that might change things, but it hasn’t been an issue for us. I make my design decisions based purely on what looks good and feels right to me.
I make my design decisions based purely on what looks good and feels right to me. Shiplap has been around for hundreds of years so while it may be having a moment in the spotlight, that’s not why I love or or the reason I chose to use it in my home.
