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We finally finished our DIY shiplap wall & I have to say, I LOVE IT! I honestly did not expect it to turn out this great. My husband & father-in-law did a fantastic job and were so precise with their cuts & measurements that it doesn't look like we did it ourselves.
Here's how we did it:
Materials
I read a few tutorials to figure out the best materials to use which helped a lot. When we first starting thinking about this project, we thought we would just buy the individual planks. After reading about a few others who used sheets of plywood & just got them cut at the store, we decide this would be an easier & cheaper solution.
We ended up buying white wood sheets because we needed them to be about 3/4 of an inch thick to line up with our door frame & just got them cut into about 8" wide pieces at Lowe's for FREE!
The other materials we used were insulation, 1/4" plywood, wood screws, 1/8" tile spacers, 20 minute mud, caulk & Blanched Pine Valspar paint!
Here is what the wall looked like after the window was installed, yikes!
Demo
The one difference with ours than other tutorials we read was that our wall was completely destroyed from putting in our big picture window. Unlike others, we had to start from scratch instead of just putting it overtop of an existing wall. This wasn't a huge deal but it caused a lot more demoing than most (who usually have virtually no demo). We have plaster walls all throughout our house which I now know is a pain in the butt! We had to destroy all the plaster on the wall & then rip out each plank underneath. This portion took a lot more time than we thought it would because we had no idea what we were getting into.
Rebuild
Once demo was completed, we discovered that there was zero insulation in the wall (or any wall in our home for that matter, which is a whole other discussion!). So we started by laying insulation in every nook & cranny of the wall, because hey, if this is the only wall in our home that is insulated, it better be good!
Next, we laid 1/4" thick plywood sheets as our base layer (so you couldn't see the bright pink insulation through the shiplap). All we had to do was cut them roughly to size & throw them up. So finally we are to the point where most people start their shiplap walls!
We were so lucky to have Taylor's dad in town to help us with all of this because he was so precise with his measurements to perfectly frame in the window! Since we already had the planks cut to the correct width, Taylor just had to cut the pieces to the correct length & notch out places for the window & outlets. We used 1/8" spacers between each plank & screwed them into place.
Finishing touches
After the planks were up, I used the 20 minute mud to cover the screw holes & seams where the boards met the ceiling & walls/door frame. I was so excited and in a hurry to finish that I forgot to take a picture of the whole thing in this state, but here is part of it mudded & unfinished.
After the mud dried, I sanded the boards down completely to help eliminate splinters & did two coats of paint.
I then went around the window & caulked the space between the boards & the window frame to make it seamless. Sorry, again, no picture of what it looked like before, but this is the part that made it look crisp & finished, so it made a huge difference (which I didn't expect)!
Overall, we are so thrilled with how nice the wall looks! I didn't expect it to be such a feature piece but now it's my favorite project we have done. I can't wait to have our big farmhouse sink & black cabinets up to accent the wall even more!
I was unsure about how it would look with using about an inch of wood on the wall but I am so glad we went with the thicker look. It feels custom and expensive and you can definitely tell its not just wallpaper!
Budget
The total price for the wall was around $150, but if we were starting from an already constructed wall with insulation, it would have been a lot less!
P.S. It's hard to see them in the picture, but these are the lights we chose for over the window. Such a steal & love the look of them!
Hope this helps in your shiplapping adventures! Feel free to reach out with any questions on what we did!
Also, Target is doing 10% off gift cards on Sunday 12/4 so stock up for Christmas!