Slowly I am taking my farm-ish house and turning it into MY house and one of the things I LOVE is the old wood siding on my sunroom walls. I wanted the wood shiplap look without the crazy cost. Here’s how I spent around $60 to turn a boring wall into a stand-out feature in my office! (I used primer and paint I already had)
So I DIY’d it and got the amazing look for a fraction of the cost of buying the pre-made “shiplap”
I got 2 sheets of the nicest sanded plywood that my store had. These were just under $30 each. You don’t need a super thick piece- so a thin piece works wonderfully.
I had Lowes cut each piece into 18 inch tall sections. I also had them cut them to length to fit my wall. It was so fast with their big saws- and so straight! They didn’t charge me for the cuts but they do have a small charge for multiple cuts (usually around 50¢ per cut…still a better deal than messing up the straight lines at home in my opinion!)
I started at the bottom of my wall because I know my ceiling isn’t 100% plum (it’s a 60+ year old house). I knew the possibility that I’d need to add trim to the top was pretty likely. I just laid it straight along the bottom trim and used a brad nailer (like this one) to attach it to the wall in 5-6 places per piece.
To create evenly spaced shiplap use a nickel to create a spacer. It’s the perfect thickness! Place one on each end of the board so it’s even all the way across (long walls might need 3). A second set of hands come in really handy here.
When the entire wall is done, use a little wood filler (like this one) to fill in the tiny holes. Lightly sand with sandpaper.
Use a really good primer ( I love this one) . Then paint with a high gloss white (or you could use any color…but I just love a glossy white). And viola! DIY Shiplap on a budget!
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