Shiplap is a home design trend which has been gaining popularity recently due to its easy installation and great finish. If you’re not familiar with the term, shiplap refers to boards that are joined together and applied to walls. Here are a few ideas you can implement to make sure your shiplap walls look amazing!
1. Skinny Lap
Thin paneled shiplap gives a unique and fine touch to the room you use it in. If you are going for a fresh new look for your home, try thin shiplap boards, or alternatively known as skinny lap. Skinny lap is just as easy to install as regular ship lap and people usually use lath material to give the skinny board look. Lath can be found in most hardware stores. Skinny lap is popularly used in bathrooms, mud rooms and laundry rooms since its known to work well in small spaces. Those are not the limits, however. You can use thin panels in any room to give it more character and give off a nautical or beachy vibe.
2. Horizontal Orientation
Shiplap was originally made to be displayed on the wall horizontally. The new orientations have recently come about. Horizontally installed shiplap gives a classic effect to the room and you can pair the wall with almost any kind of décor imaginable. The horizontal shiplap orientation is great for use when you’re going for a natural wooden rustic vibe. Horizontal boards can be left in their natural wooden elements, keeping that classic old-style look. Horizontally placed wide shiplap when painted bright white gives an amazing chic touch to your home. The horizontal shiplap boards can uplift your entire living area and gives a nice touch while keeping the classic features of shiplap.
3. Use Paint
Going for a bright modern vibe, or a subtle rustic feel? Shiplap boards can be customized to any color. It looks great in almost any color imaginable and can be easily painted too. You can match the color to the rest of your furniture or décor or create an entirely new color to stand apart from everything else in the room. In small rooms, use painted shiplap to create an open and brightened vibe to make the room appear bigger. You don’t have to stick to the conventional white, beige, green, blue colors. You can mix it up and paint the shiplap gray, bright pink, or even black. Try adding a pop of color to the wall that matches with a statement piece in the room. Whatever the case, painted shiplap looks amazing!
4. Wide Panels
Thick panels come in a variety of sizes and styles and are widely used in large rooms. The thick paneling shiplap style is found more commonly than the skinny lap because of its versatility. Thick paneling can be used in any room and is also very popular for ceilings, giving a unique and finished look to the entire room. Wide faced boards can be used on a single wall, on a statement wall, as a backdrop or on all four walls. There are endless possibilities when it comes to this size of shiplap. If you’re going for a modern touch to your home with a Scandinavian feel to it, wide faced shiplap boards will do wonders. Thick shiplap boards come in various sizes to suit your décor needs, making them a great addition to any room.
5. Unique Patterns
Looking for something unique to transform the entire look of your home? You can opt for installing shiplap in a diagonal orientation. Shiplap can be virtually placed anywhere, in any direction, and using it diagonally is a great idea for letting your wall or walls stand out. Apart from diagonal orientations, the shiplap can also be installed in a mirror style, giving a completely modern and stylish look. If you’re feeling daring, you can go for chevron style shiplap. Shiplap can be made in zig-zag designs to create a unique and fun look while keeping the stylish feel of shiplap texture. You can keep the chevron style in the natural wood color or paint the zig-zag lines in alternating colors.
6. Glossing
If you don’t want to stick to the rough look of the shiplap boards, opting for glossing is a great idea. You can achieve a highly contemporary look by simple glossing the boards after painting them. A trending style in shiplap is to add high-gloss to white wide sized shiplap and cover all the walls of the room. This gives an amazing modern chic look to your home. The glossy texture works great in any room particularly the kitchen, bathroom, powder room, entrance hallway, mud room and even in the dining room. Glossing gives a great finish to your walls while keeping the overall shiplap texture. Something to keep in mind regarding glossing the shiplap is to make sure all the surfaces are glossed evenly.
7. Mix of Materials
Shiplap looks beautiful as is but mixing it with other materials can give an even more trendy and personalized feel. If you’re going for a contemporary urban vibe, a mix of different textures will work very nicely. You can combine shiplap with brick, marble or concrete textures. If you have marble countertops in the kitchen you can pair them with a matching color of shiplap. Similarly, you can pair a brick wall of any room with shiplap, mixing and matching the different colors that work well together. A red brick wall pairs amazingly well with white shiplap of the opposite orientation. Stone, concrete, and other wood textures can also be creatively combined with shiplap.
8. Shiplap Accents
When starting out with shiplap, you don’t necessarily have to go all out. Applying shiplap to only one wall of your home is a great start. It’s not difficult to make sure the shiplap wall goes well with the other walls; all you must do is match the shiplap color with the room colors. Shiplap painted in the same color as the surrounding wall paint gives a very clean feeling while allowing you to have a variety in textures. You can also transform any nook in the house with this technique. Any portion of the room can be made into a functional area that stands out from everything else. You can make a peaceful reading corner in your living room or a nice breakfast spot in the kitchen.
9. Shiplap Gallery Wall
A shiplap walls serves as a great backdrop for any type of furniture or décor. To make the most of your shiplap wall, add a gallery using frames of different sizes and colors. You can switch up the gallery look by adding picture frames, shelves, paintings and even quirky wall hangings. It will all mesh together to create the perfect wall décor with a subtle but stylish shiplap backdrop. If you’re not into a gallery wall, and prefer simple décor instead, you can pair the shiplap wall with round décor items. Round shapes work best with any orientation of shiplap and can be of any size. Round décor can include just about anything with a circular shape such as clocks, wreaths, or wall hangings.
10. Mix Colors Up
With shiplap you don’t have to stick to just one color. Although solid colored shiplap looks amazing, you can instantly add life to your room by using different colors for the boards. If you’re looking for a unique shiplap style this is worth trying for sure, and it’ll brighten up your room very nicely without too much extra effort. The color combinations can be made to match the surrounding colors, or you can go all out and create a style that really stands out. You can use as many colors as you want, just make sure you don’t go overboard. Using too many colors that don’t mix well together can create a clash in the room. Use colors wisely and you’ll have an amazing, unique wall to complement your entire home.
11. Gray Wash Shiplap
For those going for a classic farmhouse look, gray wash is a great option. Wash is something in between the lines of paint and stain since it’s essentially neither of those but gives the feeling of both. Wash doesn’t necessarily have to be gray. You may use any color to match with your furniture or décor and create an overall subtle texture. If you’re not into the basic wood tones or the warm look they give, use wash to keep the wood style but lose the extra warm wooden colors. Gray wash works wonderfully in bathrooms, kitchens, mud rooms, and hallways. It can also be incorporated with other styles such as brick texture and concrete walls.
12. Vertical Orientation
The most common orientation of shiplap is vertical, keeping the look of the room original yet classy. Vertically installed shiplap gives the room an open and free feelings and instantly draws the eye to the ceiling. Vertical shiplap can be installed in any size, type, or color and works wonderfully in any room. If you have a beautiful chandelier that needs attention, use vertical shiplap to draw people’s eyes directly to the ceiling. Vertical shiplap also looks great when made with narrow sized boards. The vertical orientation also helps make the room look bigger by adding more height to the ceiling and creates an open and free vibe in the room. If you plan on using a fancy chandelier or hanging lamps, vertical shiplap boards are a great idea.
13. Natural Wood Look
Keeping the natural wood look of shiplap creates a remarkable retro feel in the home. You can add gloss to the wood color, and it’ll liven up any room while keeping the rustic vibe. The natural wood style gives an amazing farmhouse touch to the inside of your home and is a great addition an any room. You can pair the wood look with essentially anything and create a mix of different styles. Natural wood can be of so many different shades, and they all look beautiful with any surrounding furniture or décor. You can keep the walls old style while incorporating a fresh and urban look using modern furniture in the room. This can help you create a mix of design styles and give a unique, customized appearance to your home.
14. Statement Walls
Nothing makes a room stand out more than a statement wall. You can create a statement wall with all kinds of décor pieces, using the trendy shiplap backdrop to your advantage. The shiplap backdrop can be of any color and style, though most applications of the statement wall use toned down shades which go well with all other color themes. You can also get a beautiful and bold look by using black shiplap with bright colored décor hanging on the wall. Another growing trend in shiplap application is using it on the background of the fireplace wall. The fireplace is a statement of its own, with decoration pieces standing out on the mantle, and a shiplap wall in the back will do wonders to highlight it.
15. Top to Bottom
Installing shiplap from the top of the ceiling to the bottom of the floor and covering the entire wall enhances the whole boarded effect. You can choose to put shiplap boarding anywhere on the wall, but complete coverage ensures that the room looks spacious and finished. Many people are now opting exclusively for this style and using it on either one wall or all four walls of their rooms. Either way, the top to bottom installation of shiplap look incredible and adds a completeness to the room. If you’re not into covering the entire wall length, you can choose to create a chair rail or cover only the bottom half of the wall. This will give a nice variation to the shiplap wall and allow uniqueness and style into your home.
We’ve seen a bunch of ways to implement the shiplap wall. Shiplap can transform any room and give it a refreshing look. You can customize shiplap to your specific needs to make the walls of your home one of a kind.
