Today I’m going to share my $100.00 shiplap, farmhouse dining & living room makeover.  Yes, I said $100.00 to makeover my entire Farmhouse dining and living room area in shiplap!  We found a crazy cheap hack to get that farmhouse shiplap, living and dining room for less and we’re going to give you the step by step guide!

 

 

Recently, I completed a weekend fireplace makeover using the Chip & Joanna Gaines “German Schmear” method which did wonders for my living room….buuuut left my sad little adjoining dining room lacking in Farmhouse charm.

 

We used REAL wood for this dining room shiplap project!  Unlike some other DIY websites out there we didn’t use some sort of wood sticker, wood look ceramic tile or wall paper….aaaaand you’re not going to have to go walking all over creation for pallets to dismantle.  This project is easy and can be completed in a weekend if you’re committed!

 

My dining room adjoins the living room and now looks more cohesive with the chippy, white, brick fireplace makeover I completed a couple of months ago.  If you haven’t seen my SUPER EASY version of Fixer Upper’s German Schmear brick painting technique don’t miss it!

Just take a look at the before and after pictures!  This project turned out amazing!

 

{Shiplap Dining Room BEFORE Pictures}

 

So here is what our dining room looked like when we purchased it…it’s sweet and cozy and we loved it for…awhile.  We transitioned to a soft  yellow color in the dining room for a few years (and much different furnishings over the years).

There was nothing farmhouse about this soft yellow dining room.  The farmhouse white look is kinda my jam.  While I still love all the pieces in the room…nothing about those yellow walls really fit my style.  We just didn’t have a chance to get to this project until this past Christmas break when Mr. Wonderful was home from work to help me.

 

{Shiplap Dining Room AFTER Pictures}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you LOVE everything Farmhouse then join our FREE Farmhouse Lovers Facebook Group!  You’ll get tons of inspiration, FREE farmhouse themed printables to decorate your home with, product giveaways, DIY tutorials and a community of like minded individuals!  Just click on the graphic below to join:

 

 

Ahhhhhh….now that’s more like it.  Now let me show you how we did this all in a weekend for a $100 bucks!

 

{Shiplap Dining Room How-To}

So I’m sure that your wondering how in the heck did we do all this with real wood for a $100.00?  Well, to start real shiplap is pretty darn expensive.  I have zero clue if I will still be lusting over shiplap in 10 years so I wanted to find a way to shiplap my dining room for much less and perhaps on a little less permanent basis.

I got this idea after reading a blog post about how someone used sanded, cabinet grade plywood to simulate real wood floors.  I wish I could find the post to link to it but I lost it somewhere in the Pinterest ether.  I thought….wouldn’t this be a really great product to use for faux shiplap?  A sheet of this stuff is about $28 at my local home improvement store…so it would be incredible if I could make it work!

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{Linked Supply List}

1/3″ x 4′ x 8′ Sanded Plywood Ripped into 5″ or 6″ Strips

Table Saw

Pneumatic Nail Gun

Stud Finder

3 foot Level

Nails or spacers

Sand Paper

Tape Measure

White Paint

{Step 1: Rip Down The Plywood}

After purchasing your plywood you’ll want to do an actual length and width measurement of your plywood with a tape measure. There can be some small size variations from one manufacturer to another.  You’ll want to rip your plywood down to widths of 5 or possibly 6 inches on a table saw….you’ll have to do the math and see how many equal pieces you can get from one single sheet of plywood and not have a lot of waste.  We cut our faux shiplap strips to 5″ widths.

Keep in mind that a saw blade width is about 1/8 of an inch.  Every time you make a pass to rip a piece of plywood you will LOSE 1/8″ to the saw blade.  If you don’t have a table saw at home you can have your plywood cut at places like Home Depot or Lowe’s when you purchase the plywood.

Use medium grit sandpaper to clean up any rough edges or splintering after you rip down the plywood on the table saw.

 

{Step 2: Remove Trim Work & Electrical}

Next, you’ll want to remove any window casing and trim that is in your room.  You’ll install the shiplap right up to the window opening.  It’s completely up to you if you want to have trim at all after you install the ship lap.  So far, I really like my shiplap as is with no casing or trim but it will be easy to add it later if I change my mind.

You’ll want to turn off the breaker in the room you are working in so that you can unscrew any plugs and switches.  You will re-screw any plugs or switches against the shiplap after you have installed the shiplap.

 

{Step 4: Find Your Starting Point}

Finding a starting point can vary for every room.  We started at the top of the wall near the ceiling for our first full piece.  In our estimation it was the best place to start because any half strips we’d have to cut would be near the floor which isn’t a focal point.  Take a minute to think about doors, windows and focal points.  If you have a room with cathedral ceilings your answer may be completely different than ours.  It may be worth the effort to take measurements and sketch out how it will look in advance of running your first course.

 

{Step 5: Mark Your Studs}

Using the stud finder mark all your studs with an “x”. Use the 3 foot level to mark a complete vertical line from ceiling to floor of where the stud is.  This is essential to hitting studs with your pneumatic nail gun in the next step.  If you don’t hit every stud along the way your board will just pull out from the drywall eventually.

I was asked recently why I didn’t use construction adhesive instead of the pneumatic nail gun.  Construction adhesive will destroy drywall if you were to try and remove this faux shiplap in the future.  Like I mentioned earlier in this DIY article….I’m not sure if I will be lusting over shiplap in 10 years so I want to make sure I can remove this easily (or a future homeowner can remove it).

 

{Step 6: Nail Up the First Course}

Using the pneumatic nail gun you’ll want to nail up your first course hitting every stud along the way.  You’ll want your first course to be as close to level as possible.  If it’s not level right off the bat there is a serious risk that you’ll be really crooked looking by the time you get to the floor.  As you’re adding rows check your level occasionally with the 3 foot level to make sure that you’re not getting off level.

Chances are that your room will be much longer than the length of a strip of faux shiplap.  If this is the case you’ll want to stagger your gaps or seams (see the top left of the above photo).  You don’t want two seams right next to each other.  Plan each course so that you won’t have two or more seams right on top of each other.

 

{Step 7: Insert Spacers}

We used several same size nails as spacers.  We honestly couldn’t think of anything better for a spacer between the courses.  You have to have something that will stay in place while you are trying to nail up each course.  Given that we only have two hands it’s hard to juggle spacers, the faux shiplap & a nail gun.  We had to find some way to keep the spacers in place…this was the best way we could think of!

 

{Step 8: Nail up Next Course….Repeat, Repeat, Repeat!}

 

 

{Step 9: Paint}

 

{Step 10: Reinstall Electrical}

 

As we mentioned in step 2, you’ll have to physically unscrew any plugs and switches (after you’ve flipped the breaker) and re-screw them on top of the shiplap itself.  This gives you a nice clean look when you replace the electrical plate.  See the picture below:

 

 

In our shiplap dining room makeover we used 5 sheets of sanded plywood.  It came out to a total of $140 for the entire room!  So, I guess it wasn’t exactly a $100 bucks but it was pretty close.  I’m amazed at how much better our dining room looks!  Not to mention we have real wood up on the walls!  It looks JUST like shiplap but at a fraction of the cost!

 

So if you have a large room and it just isn’t in the budget to do the whole enchilada…maybe you could consider doing an accent wall?  Choose a focal point in your room and just faux shiplap that wall?!?!?  We love this in the dining room but I’m already thinking about the guest bathroom and other places that I can carry this throughout the house!

 

Don’t forget to check out my super easy DIY brick fireplace makeover inspired by Chip & Joanna’s German Schmear technique!  It so easy to take a boring brick fireplace and turn it into that rustic farmhouse look in a weekend!

 

If you enjoyed this project and want to explore another farmhouse style wall accent project like “board and batten” then hop on over to see my friend Melissa over at Create and Find.  She has a fantastic post on How to Add an Inexpensive Board and Batten Accent Wall to your room!