16 Jan 2016 Shiplap and reclaimed wood walls

by Donna Benton

One of today’s hottest trends in new home design is using reclaimed wood or painted shiplap planks on interior walls to get that urban farmhouse look that is all the rage. Whether it is painted or stained, either style will add texture, warmth and architectural detail to a room. Real reclaimed wood or shiplap siding can be expensive, but you can use it in small areas to accent a particular wall, an entryway or a staircase. 

Barnwood has been around a while. “Reclaimed wood” is barnwood’s sophisticated urban cousin who likes to hang out at the coffee shop. It’s the same thing, just with a little more refined finish. A reclaimed wood wall is a great way to add rich, rugged texture to your room while still keeping a more contemporary style. There are a few local reclaimed wood suppliers who can help you get the right stuff for your project. You can also recreate this reclaimed look using simple pine lumber, finished with wood stain.

Shiplap siding is named for its overlapping joint. It’s an old construction technique that you may have seen on your favorite home improvement remodeling show where the host is always excited to unearth it in the walls with their crowbar. You can recreate this vintage farmhouse look in your home with new shiplap siding available at a lumber supply store. 

Adding reclaimed wood or shiplap elements to your home is usually a serious remodel project that involves power tools and sawdust. But here’s a quick and easy DIY project to get that shiplap look in your existing home, and you don’t need a contractor’s license. We tried this project on a bedroom wall, and it looks almost exactly like the real shiplap siding in other parts of our home. 

First, measure the area where you want to add the shiplap siding. Go to your lumber supplier and purchase enough 4-by-8-foot sheets of 1/4-inch plywood (underlayment) to cover the area. This plywood is very inexpensive — around $14 a sheet. Most lumber retailers will cut this to your specifications for no additional charge. Have the sheets cut lengthwise into 8-foot plank-sized strips. To get the least amount of waste from a sheet, aim for 7 3/4-inch planks, but you can make them whatever width you want.

Lightly sand the cut ends of the planks. Start at the ceiling and nail the planks to the drywall with small 1-inch finish nails, staggering the joints where the boards meet so you don’t have a uniform line down the wall. Separate each run of boards about 1/16-inch. On our project, we used nickels as spacers to get a uniform separation. You will need a power saw to cut the boards at the end of each run. Butt the planks right up to the trim. The 1/4-inch material is thin enough that you don’t need to remove any trim to make it look authentic. 

When you are finished, paint the boards, just like you would paint a wall. Our bedroom wall project took about two hours to install and cost less than $100 in materials.