In my opinion there are not really any rules when it comes to the material you use for your shiplap wall, which brings me to this project! We had just finished hosting my oldest daughters wedding here at our farm in which we had to build quite a bit of the structure elements such as the back drop for the head table (where this wood came from). At first when it was all over, this wood just became a pile of scrap to be honest.
Every time I went into my work shop I saw this pile of wood and a lightbulb went off! Why would this be scrap? There were nail holes and scuff marks on it but our home has a rustic vibe anyhow. Alot of the pieces were all different lengths and again, why does that matter? I could tally make that work for my bedroom. I had been wanting a photo ledge in there and I wanted to incorporate these two ideas together so what you see above is the design I came up with.
For the shiplap it is 1X6 fence boards (pick the straight ones, not the ones on the top of the pile ;)) and for the photo ledge at the bottom I used 1X3 and 1X2 pine and built a “U” ledge for photos to sit on.
MATERIALS & TOOLS NEEDED:
- 1×6 Spruce fence boards
- 1×3 Pine boards
- 1×2 Pine boards
- Brad Nailer
- Liquid Nails (if needed)
- Tape Measure
DIRECTIONS:
- mark off all your studs with a stud finder
- start nailing on your boards in whatever order you want, this shiplap was random sizing so it was different for every single row, keeping in mind where my studs were – you can also use liquid nails where there is not a stud
- take the shiplap down as far as you like, my pattern started at the ceiling and came down about 1/4 height of the wall
- if you are doing a photo ledge you will then run the 1×3 horizontally flat along the bottom of your ship lap and brad nail it at the 90 degree wall angle (see picture) and then attach the 1×2 across the front of the 1×3 and you will have created a “U” shaped ledge to place your photos
TOOLS I USED:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-Whole-Stud-Detector-ES
thelittlecountrymama.com 