DIY Shiplap

The shiplap has begun! Finished? Not quite. With the chop saw + air compressor + nail gun we can truly only work on this DIY when the babies aren't home (thank you grandparents!), which means we've worked on this shiplap literally twice in the past month. While a tutorial is still on my to-do list, here is the link to the shiplap boards we used since I get asked that quite often. They come in 8ft & 12ft lengths, we went with 12ft since our wall lengths are pretty long. Also, there are many ways to do shiplap out there - from slicing large panels into strips to using coins as the gap spacing between boards (which we actually did in our downstairs bathroom 2 years ago. It works!). This is just the method we decided to use in our Master Bedroom. Realistically we needed a fast method, since as I stated above, we only have tiny windows to work on this project. So the prepared tongue and groove boards created an easily stackable and level wall without much effort in keeping the spacing consistent. We also needed it to be realistic since it's such a large area. Slicing a 4x8 MDF panel into strips is fine if you have a small accent wall. But doing a 13'x21' room would be insanity. We loved the thought of 12ft boards to have as few seams as possible. And we also wanted no wood grain or knots in the wood - another important factor in the look you're going for! Shiplap is so versatile with the look you want, it can be coastal, country, modern, boho, you name it, just really depending on the direction, texture, and finish of your boards. For our modern slightly boho-ish bedroom, the smooth horizontal boards were exactly what we wanted.