Faux Shiplap | A Studio Backdrop Project

Updated…here it is! I have it white but am thinking I am might like cream so I basically manipulated the white balance to either keep it white or make it appear creamier so I guess I can keep it white and manipulate it to my liking <3 What do you think?! Vote for your fav on Fb HERE:

EDITED very simply with Arise & Shine and SharpenNoise from the Kansas Collection – Shop HERE!

 

**Stay tuned for updated pictures using the backdrop – hopefully tomorrow** I will post pictures on Fb so make sure you are able to see me in your newsfeed by going HERE and making sure the following is done:

 

I am little stir crazy these days. I had my wisdom teeth out last week so I took it easy (i.e. didn’t go anywhere that required me getting dressed) and then Jon had his heel surgery Monday and is basically couch ridden for a while. And lets be honest, I have been watching too much Fixer Upper and am in love with Chip & Joanna. And shiplap. I was hanging out googling a few weeks ago and left a few tabs open (like a hundred as usual) showing how to do a faux shiplap and today I was feeling stir crazy so off to Lowe’s I went.

(this is my safari window like at a minimum-Jon gets on my case all the time when I say my internet is running slow-like why do you think?!)

Armed with a great blog post (I’ll link you at the end) and a good list with measurements I went in and got what I needed (some of you probably saw my posts on IG; I am photogingmama on there if you want to follow). I figured I would get my materials and maybe do it tomorrow. But then I kind of got excited to try the new nail gun (I was sick of borrowing one) and so I started the project and ended up finishing it within maybe an hour and a half…

First thing’s first…getting a nice guy at Lowe’s to cut your board is paramount to making this quick and cutting down on your work; after all, they have the huge table saw to do it you know? What I got was $13.99 a sheet and I needed two sheets to do about a 8×8 backdrop. Initially I wanted to do 10×7 but I have outlets in that space and decided not to cover them up-luckily it was exactly 8 foot between the two of them and the sheets were 4×8. So I got two sheets of 4×8 and had him cut them in 6″ strips (so 8 ft x 6 inches). Because I was planning on doing 10 foot across initially I had him then cut two the of 8’x6″ strips into 2 ft pieces so I could connect to the 8 ft pieces. So what I was left with, and used, were 14 8 ft x 6 inch strips.

 (Iphone screenshot of the before – I had barnwood leaned against it usually)

I started by painting the wall behind where the boards would be the same color as I was going to paint the entire thing because shiplap has gaps in it (so you would see the wall behind it).

Then I got the compressor out and hooked up the nail gun-I used a lower pressure since the “shiplap” was thin because I didn’t want the nail to get shot straight through. I used 1 1/2″ nail, 18 gauge. I have never been a fan of nail guns because they are loud and they scare me a little (irrational thought that I might put a nail through my foot or eye or something). But now I am in love – I want to do all kinds of projects! So basically I made sure my baseboard was mostly level (if not, the higher I got the more “off” it would be and then I would be able to tell and it would drive me nuts) and then placed the first board, went down with my nail gun about where I thought studs were. Then, for my gap, I placed a ruler (could be anything really) and then the next board on top, made sure it was level as well and then nailed that one the same way. And so up I went. You really don’t even need to wait for the paint to dry because you are just putting boards over it and then painting the same color over it.

 

Once that was done I added some trim just to finish it off – you can see me using my jigsaw to cut it down-it was just the easiest way at the time lol. Then I painted over the entire wall! Helpful hint-you can put the brush or roller in the fridge to stay moist in between the wall coat & the shiplap painting…

I may go back and fill in the nail holes with spackle unless the paint covers it well (I will wait and see in the light). I went with a bright white because I wanted clean & modern but I will have to photograph it in the natural and studio light to see if I like it. I am second guessing myself after seeing Keri’s cream wall she did (see HERE).

 

 

Here is the blog post I based my project off of HERE.

Here are the wood sheets I used: