Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past couple of years, you are well aware of the trend known as ‘shiplap.’ If your cave has wifi, however, you’ve probably already shiplapped the crap out of it. I bet it looks nice.
If you haven’t heard of shiplap, it’s basically wood paneling, most typically painted white and hung horizontally. It’s nothing groundbreaking or new, but it’s enjoying a resurgence of popularity thanks in part to Joanna and Chip Gaines and their massively beloved show “Fixer Upper.” They are big fans of the shiplap look, and so am I!
Here now are three ways to get the look yourself.
#1: You could actually hang some shiplap.
Chelsea at Creating Cotters Bay used white wooden planks to add some interest to the end of her hallway. Perfect place to add a little detail AND get some practice in before you attempt a larger wall.
If sawing up wood ain’t your thang, you can still get the look like Sarah did below. Can you tell what she’s using on her kitchen backsplash?
#2: It’s vinyl flooring!
Easier to haul, cut, and much thinner than regular boards. And if that’s not enough to convince you, it costs less too. She made sure to space them out just enough by placing a penny in between the planks as she hung them. You want a slight gap to really nail that shiplap look. See her tips for painting and sealing on her blog All Things with Purpose.
Ok, so you can either hang actual shiplap, or you can ‘cheat’ with vinyl flooring, but is there yet another way?
Believe it or not, there is. And believe it or not, it costs zero dollars. That’s right, I said ZERO DOLLARS. Behold:
Can you guess?
It’s pencil! (Insert shocked cat-face emoji)
If you have access to a couple of pencils and a straight edge, you could be a member of Club Shiplap before dinnertime. Head on over to Emily’s blog The Wicker House to get all the details. I believe there is a coat of sealer involved at some point, so the pencil doesn’t smudge, but other than that, ZERO FREAKING DOLLARS PEOPLE.
5 Comments
Marty
May 25, 2016 at 2:59 PMFlooring, how clever is that. It looks amazing.
Michelle
May 25, 2016 at 4:40 PMVery nice!! Shiplap is a trend we’ll be sticking with for pretty much forever.Our house was built in 1915 by an actual ship builder. We peeled 7 layers of wallpaper off our living room walls, exposing tongue in groove walls. I love them. They are smoother than regular shiplap, then when I started watching Fixer Upper, realized ship lap was likely under the “nice” paneling our kitchen, so went in and started pulling. Yay!!! (Sorry, hubby) I’ll be exposing it upstairs, soon(ish), too. I hear Joanna’s going with “skinnylap” now, but I love my shiplap!! Especially the cost!
Chelsea
May 25, 2016 at 6:28 PMThanks so much for featuring me Lindsey! All of the other shiplap projects look great! It was almost too easy of a project because now I am thinking up other places we can put it in the house 😀
Heidi
May 26, 2016 at 8:06 AMLove this look and always have! I’m moving to a new apartment soon and will have to 2 walls that I would love to put this on. But trying to figure out how to do so without any physical application to the wall. Since it’s a rental, I can’t actually install anything on the walls. Any suggestions for a temporary & removable option would be appreciated!
Heather M
May 26, 2016 at 6:08 PMI actually had no idea that was called shiplap. I always just call it paneling. Haha! In fact I told Jason the other day that I want to put white paneling up in our house somewhere. Maybe he will take me more seriously if I call it shiplap. I love the look so much!