Ok. It’s official. I’m completely obsessed with Joanna Gaines… but in a totally non-weird way – I swear! 😊
Just like so many others, I was inspired by her style and signature shiplap accent walls. Only problem? My fiancé and I moved into a new build home. Meaning, there was no shiplap magically waiting to be unveiled behind drywall. We decided to DIY the look but needed a cheaper option than some of the expensive alternatives I found online!
After some research online, and several trips to the hardware store, we decided to use underlayment wood. It’s a SUPER thin wood, usually used as a cheap hardwood floor planks option. At less than $15 per sheet, it was the right option for us!
Here’s a look at the powder room before. It was pretty basic, and a fairly, small space.
Here’s how we remade the space.
Step 1: Prep
First thing’s first – we prepped and cut the underlayment sheets into 8” strips. If you have a circular saw, you can do this step at home. If you’re a total novice, like we were when we started these home DIY projects, you may want to ask the pros at your local hardware store to cut them into strips for you.
Next, we sanded the wood down and painted it. Rather than a traditional white or natural stained shiplap wall, we decided to add a little color to the mix. Our home is mostly light gray with white trim, so I decided to stay with that theme but to choose a darker gray color, so the accent wall really popped. We choose a gorgeous graphic charcoal gray color from Behr (N500-6) with the primer already in it (anything I can do to cut down on steps is worth it!).
Step 2: Mounting to the Wall
After painting, we tacked the planks to the studs in the wall using a nail gun. You can definitely use regular nails and a hammer but it will take much longer!
*NOVICE TIP OF THE DAY – if you plan to do a few home projects, I recommend investing in a nail gun (here's the combo kit we bought). It saved us so much time and effort we started doing more and more DIYs. It also made this shiplap project easy, breezy to complete.
Once the painted planks were nailed down to the walls, we used a little wood filler to fill in the nail holes. After that, I sanded them down, painted over the filler and filled in the cracks with more paint, so the wall looked seamless.
Finally, we added some abstract wood art, and our shiplap, accent wall was complete! Hope you guys love it – we’re obsessed!
Have you tried this DIY? Let me know how it went for you in the comments below!
With Love, From Kay