How I Updated My Dining Room with DIY Faux Shiplap!

I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to write and share a blog post.  This one is big.  It took some major digging through books, magazines, pinterest and even my neighbor’s trash pile!  And it all started with our trip to the gulf coast in June.  I got major inspiration for my dining room from the decor, inside and out, of the homes along highway 30A.

On a side note, if you’re ever looking for a great place to visit with lots of eye candy (design-wise, but you may be able to find some on the beach too!), head down to the Santa Rosa beach area.  You’ll thank me when you get back!  I wrote a post about our trip back in June if you’re interested.

So, back to the dining room…I decided on an upscale coastal look, which has a lot of farmhouse decor inspiration and a whole lot of shiplap. I’ve always loved shiplap, but the farmhouse style doesn’t really mesh with my furniture, so that’s when I decided to that coastal design fit a little bit better.

Now, installing shiplap can be a huge undertaking, not to mention a whole lotta money.  I did a little research and discovered a technique for faux shiplap that only required a can of paint and a colored pencil.  Yes…you literally draw lines on the walls! I didn’t have much to lose and I figured if I didn’t like it, I could just paint over it.

Here are a few before pics.    

I knew that if I didn’t do everything right with the paint color and the application, this was going to look bad.  So, I did some searching and found that Joanna Gaines uses Sherwin Williams paint in Alabaster for her shiplap (so they say).  She now has her own line of paint, so I’m not sure if this is 100% true, but I gave it a try anyway.  

It took me a couple of days to cut around the trim.

Then it took me another day to give the room two full coats of paint…

Finally, I was at the point that I could start drawing the lines on the walls.  I got this idea from Lauren at Bless’er House who did a faux shiplap wall in her daughter’s bedroom and wrote about it here.  All you need is a level, a yardstick, and a black colored pencil!

I marked my lines every six inches and then connected the dots with a yardstick, taking an extra step to make sure the yardstick was level.

Before I tried the black colored pencil, I bought a paintbrush marker in black.  Big mistake.  This is what it looked like compared to the pencil.

Definitely too bold.  The pencil creates a bit of a shadowed look to trick your eye into believing that those are real shiplap boards.  I had to paint over that line 4 times to make it go away.  

So, without further ado…I give you my new and improved dining room!

Oh, and don’t forget that rug that I salvaged from my neighbor’s trash…it looks great, doesn’t it?

 

 

 

I seriously wish that everyone could see this in person.  It really looks amazing up close.

This project turned out better than I expected and I’ll probably try it in a few other rooms as well.  Someone might have to stage an intervention though because I may be tempted to do this to the whole house.  Yikes!

Please comment away!  I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions!