Low Cost Shiplap Walls

Sherrie
by Sherrie
3 Materials
$80
2 Days
Easy

A very inexpensive way to achieve the look of shiplap. I went to Lowes and purchased the 4x8 underlayment/plywood and ask if they could cut the sheets down for me. Lowes minimum cut is 8 inches which gave me 6 boards per sheet, I bought 5 sheets for my very small 4x4 1/2 bathroom. I stacked all the boards and did a fast sand on the edges with a sanding block just to knock of the rough edges. I wanted just a slightly random color on the boards so I had on hand a couple shades of light cream paint that I watered down to "whitewash" the boards.

My finished 1/2 bathroom!

I bought my home March 2019 knowing it needed major work and I was up for the challenge. This was the ugly 1/2 bath...nasty!

The walls were painted dark navy so I just painted black lines where the space is between the boards. I only used a brad nailer to attach the boards in each corner and in the center and I used tile spacers to keep the space between the boards even. I had to start in the center of the wall due to wiring issues I had to deal with, but I made sure my first board was level and worked my way up and then across. To finish the corners I bought unfinished corner trim and did the same "white wash" staining on the trim. It didn't dawn on me until after my boards were up that I should have sealed with a matte top coat so I did that with a paint brush.

Suggested materials:
  • 4x8 underlayment/plywood $15.98 sheet   (Lowes no charge for the cuts)
  • Paint
  • Brad nailer
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