I have been itching to do a faux shiplap wall, pretty much since we bought our home last August. At first I kept planning to put our first shiplap wall in A's room, but to be honest, it would just be more work than what I am willing to commit to right now. So then I changed my mind to our little entry way nook, but decided since that wasn't really a focal wall in the room, it would most likely go unnoticed. So that is when it dawned on me, why not do the fireplace? It is in the center of the room, it is a small wall, and if all doesn't go as planned it would be an easy fix! So, without further ado, our first ever faux shiplap fireplace remodel!
Before I get into the tutorial, let me show you what it looked like when we first moved in a little less than a year ago.
Very, Very, plain and that awkward space between the top of the fireplace and bottom of the mantle was so hard to make decorations work. I think the faux shiplap makes the space look much more cozy and inviting, and maybe this winter we will actually want to use our fireplace ;) .
Supplies:
For this project we spent less than $60.
- 1 4x8 1/4 thick sanded plywood. We paid $25 for this at Lowes
- 1 tube of wood filler
-1 package of sandpaper
-1 quart of white paint in a color of your choosing
-2 Nickels
-Nails
-Hammer (Oh yes, we didn't even use a nail gun folks!)
To start we had Lowe's cut 6 inch strips equal to the length of our wall. Instead of buying another board, we ended up having to cut some boards into smaller sections and then combining them on the wall and filling them in with wood filler. You honestly can't really tell, but it saved us from having to buy an entire piece of plywood extra for just two pieces.
C then hung all of the boards using 6 nails in each board. (4 on each side and 2 in the center.) We used two nickels to space each board from the next, one on each end until the board was nailed entirely into the wall.
We chose not to remove our mantle, because truthfully, we weren't sure if we could get it back up there, so we had to adjust some measurements to make the boards fit and worked around the mantle. The bottom two boards, that are missing in the photo, are just a tad smaller than 6 inches.
Once all of the boards were hung, I went in with the wood filler, and filled in all of the nail holes, and any of the gaps where we had to combine 2 pieces of wood to make the long board.
Once all of the holes were filled and dry, I went back with my sandpaper, and sanded all of the excess putty off making it smooth and flat with the wood itself. After sanding came the fun part, paint! For this wood, I used a paint + primer white paint, and I only had to put 2 coats on it to get the finish I was looking for.
And here is the final result!
I absolutely love this wall and all of the character it adds to our home. I am convinced that little updates such as this are what is going to make our house sell fast in a couple of years when we decide to move into a bigger house.
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial! Let me know if you have any questions!
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