Hands-on Shiplap Wall Plank Treatment ($31 total!)

Many moons ago we promised to share the Hands-on play-by-play for this shiplap-esque, paneled wall treatment because it is ridiculously straightforward and GLORIOUSLY BUDGET CONSCIOUS. As in, it cost less than two boxes of my go-to light bulbs. Or dinner at Chipotle. Yes, those are my units of measure. But the point is: it was only $31!

Shiplap Planking Detail In Duplex Kitchen With Blue Cabinets

I mentioned in our backsplash post a while back that we opted for a distinct treatment on the stove wall in each of the duplex kitchens because it felt too chaotic to continue our patterned tile on two walls, so we chose something subtle yet wipeable AND straightforward to maintain (you can see the both duplex kitchen reveals here). Also low-cost & straightforward to do. Because at this point in the duplex reno we were TIRED (did I mention we had tiled 8 rooms at that point along with installing 2 Ikea kitchens and hanging 2 wall murals? I did? Many times? Clearly I am still not over it).

White Planked Wall In Duplex Kitchen With Wood Shelves

Some call it planking, some call it horizontal paneling, and some call it faux shiplap (real shiplap interlocks), but whatever you want to call it, we were excited to jump on the bandwagon after years of truly liking how Shea McGee uses it in her beachy/modern designs, as well as how Chris & Julia’s TV wall in their old family room turned out. Our overwhelming verdict: what the heck took us so long?! (Also, I still have not received my Fixer Upper merit badge. I am expecting a lapel pin with Chip’s face on it to simply show up in the mail…)

This wall treatment is in short simply thin pieces of plywood that we cut down to planks, nailed to the wall with small spacers, and painted with durable and straightforward-to-wipe semi-gloss paint (we color-matched it to the cabinets so everything blends). Both sides of the duplex were rented all summer long (22 renters took these kitchens for a spin over the last three months!) and it has turned out to be a strong durable and stain-proof surface (akin to how people add beadboard backsplashes). Glad to report it still looks like new.

Full Duplex Kitchen With Planked Wall And Pink Tile Backsplash

The secret to pinching pennies on this project is to NOT use the pre-made shiplap panels stores are now selling (yes, home improvement stores are on the bandwagon too). This one from Lowe’s is $6 per 8 foot board and this one from Home Depot is $5, but by cutting your own out of this 5mm underlayment like we did, you can get the price down to LESS THAN $2 per 8 foot board! And depending on the size of your project, that savings could truly add up. It made the wood for each of our two kitchen backsplashes total $22.50 instead of $60 – $75. Across two kitchens that saved us around $100 in lumber.

Nail Gun Securing Wood Panels To Backsplash Using Tile Spacers

Like many Hands-on projects, cutting costs does mean you have to put in a bit more work. So if you are looking to knock out the project swiftly and you can swing the pricier pre-made stuff, go for it (it is typically pre-primed and self-spacing). But ever since reading Jenny Komenda’s budget bathroom shiplap project we have been itching to try an approach like hers. They’ve discontinued the type of MDF she used for the project, which is how we ended up with the 5mm underlayment. Our certainly has a bit more of a woodgrain pattern than MDF would, but we in fact kinda like that extra texture. It came out truly well and has proven to be extremely durable. So let us dive into the walkthrough.

5mm underlayment boards to be used in shiplap paneled backsplash

Materials

We had fairly much everything on hand except for the wood ($45) and paint ($17) so we got TWO kitchens done for $62. You might need to grab a few more tools or supplies if you do not already have them, but they are things that we use for plenty of house projects so they are fairly strong “house investments” if you plan to Hands-on other stuff over time.

Oh and it bears noting that if you have a gas stove you will want to check if this is to code (some areas do not allow a wood or beadboard backsplash unless you add a little metal strip over the stove like Chris & Julia brought in here. We have electric stoves at the duplex though (lively fact: there is no natural gas in Cape Charles – no one ever ran it that far off the mainland).

Here is what we used:

4 x 8′ panels of 5mm underlayment ($15/panel) – we needed 3 panels for both kitchens & got eight 8′ strips out of each panel
Primer (you likely simply need a quart)
Semi-gloss paint
Wood Filler
Caulk
Paint brush & small foam rollers
Small spackle knife
Nail gun (this is ours)
Table saw (only if you do not get the strips cut in store – this is ours)
Miter saw (this is ours) – a hand saw works too, simply a bit more slowly
Jig saw (to cut outlet and switch holes – this is ours)
Drill/drive (this is ours) and 1/2″ drill bit (like this)
Sanding block
Studfinder (here is our go-to one)
Level and pencil

Cut Your Boards To Size

The underlayment comes in 4 x 8′ panels but we had it cut down in the store for easier transport. Now, folks. I have to detour for a moment to say I have never gotten a BIGGER EYE ROLL than the one I got from the lumber section employee when I asked him to cut these strips for our shiplap project. I was half mortified and half cracking up inside that even the Home Depot employees are tiring of the shiplap trend. I have never gotten pushback before, but this guy COULD. NOT. EVEN. with my request.

He eventually agreed to cut my 3 panels into fourths (aka 12″ strips – shown above) so I could fit then in my car. That meant I later had to cut them in half again at home on my table saw. But I simply set my guide and ripped them all in no time. Having said that, this guy is literally the only person who has ever given us any sort of resistance, and I think if it had been a distinct day and a distinct employee it would have been no big deal to get strips cut.

Cutting Wood Strips In Half Along Table Saw For Shiplap Look

NOTE: Be sure to cut them to slightly less than 6″ wide (ours are 5 7/8″). You lose about 1/8″ of material from the saw blade itself, so trying to get a full 6″ strip will cause your last piece to be nearly a full inch shorter than the others.

If you can convince your store to cut your strips to their final size you will not need the table saw, but you will still need either a miter saw or hand saw to cut each strip to the length you need. Our wall was simply shy of 8 feet so we simply had to trim a little bit off of each strip.

Miter Saw Set Up To Cut Panel Strip To Length

Once you have each piece cut you will want to give the cut edges a swift once-over with a sanding block to remove any splinters.

Sanding Rough Edges Of Wood Panel Strip Using Sanding Block

Prep Your Wall

Before you hang anything you also need to prep your wall a bit. First remove any obstacles like outlet covers or switch plates. I will show you in a moment how I make my cuts around these puppies.

Electrical Outlet Covers Took out Before Installing Paneling

You will also want to find your studs so you can be sure you are securely fastening your boards to the wall. By now you likely know that we have been relying on this low-tech magnetic StudBuddy (our go-to stud finder to date).

Once I marked the locations of my studs, I drew a tall vertical line at each spot using a long level. This creates a visual reference for each stud that I could reference as I worked my way up the wall. Do not worry if your mark does not go all the way up. Eventually you will simply be able to see your nail marks and follow those.

Long Level Used To Mark Vertical Lines On Wall

Cut Holes For Outlets & Switches

My first board had two outlets that I had to cut around and, as a reminder, this is how you will want them to look in the end. Simply like when you are doing a tile backsplash, you will have to loosen the screws so the outlet can be installed to rest on top of the edge of the board (or tile). If you cut your hole too big and the outlet sits against the drywall, your cover plate will not be flush with the plugs when you got to reinstall it.

Electrical Outlet Screwed Back In Place Over Panel Strip

To make my holes I held up my board in front of the outlet and marked my hole left-to-right. I know the marks look way too wide in the photo below, but trust me that it is simply a perspective trick.

Panel Marked In Front Of Electrical Outlet

Then to mark the hole top-to-bottom, I used a scrap piece to figure out the height.

Height Of Electrical Outlet Marked Using Scrap Wood Panel

Then I used the two sets of marks to draw a guide on the back of my board, giving me the exact area I needed to cut out for the outlet.

Lines Marked For Cutting Hole For Electrical Outlet

To do the cutting, I used my jig saw. For cuts like this where I cannot start my blade at and edge I like to use a 1/2″ drill bit to create two starting points in the corners of the area to be cut. This gives me a place to slip my jig saw blade in and easily cut along my lines.

Cutting Hole In Back of Wood Strip using Jigsaw

Nail Your Boards To The Wall

With my holes cut and my outlets reinstalled, I could begin installing the boards and working my way up the wall. As you can see, we used some leftover tile spacers to create the gaps between each board. But you can fairly much use any small object you have on hand. Jenny Komenda used pennies!

First Two Panel Strips Installed Using Nail Gun and Green Tile Spacers

Some people use an adhesive like LiquidNails behind each board, but we simply secured ours with 1.75″ brad nails into the studs using our cordless nail gun. In a steamy environment like a bathroom the adhesive is likely a good idea to prevent against warping, and it would not have hurt to use it in here, but we chose to skip it because we did not want to ruin all the drywall behind each plank if we changed our minds about the shiplap. Thankfully it has held up perfectly, so our plan is to keep it for the long haul.

Had we chose on this look earlier in our process, I likely would’ve installed it BEFORE we hung the hood cabinet – mainly because it would’ve made it faster than cutting boards around it, but it was not too bad to simply trim those boards.

John Standing On Ladder Nailing Wood Paneled Backsplash In Blue Kitchen

Prime, Patch, And Paint

Here is the wall after it was simply completed and, I am not gonna lie, I kinda liked the raw wood look. It was not right for this space or application, but it looked better than I thought! So if you are looking for an interesting ceiling or wall treatment that is unpainted, this was fairly pleasant looking.

Shiplap Paneling Complete In Blue Duplex Kitchen

Since our goal was to cover it with wipeable semi-gloss paint and make it blend into our cabinets for a more backseat role in the kitchen (our tile and brick chimneys are the stars in there), the next step was priming. Technically you could go to nail hole filling next, but I personally find it easier to spot all of my nail holes after wood is primed. We had a mostly full gallon of our go-to primer on hand, but a project this size likely only needs a quart if you have to pick some up. We began off by going over all of the cracks with a brush.

I did find that I sometimes got globs of primer collecting in the cracks, so it was helpful to have a small nail nearby to scrape them clear. Perhaps this is an argument for slightly larger gaps? I dunno, but it was’t a big deal in the long run and we enjoy the wrapped up look.

After priming with the brush, we rolled the whole wall with a small foam roller. After that dried – and we could clearly see all of our nail holes (along with some wood knots that we hoped to tone down) we filled them using that pink wood filler that turns white once it is dry and ready to be sanded.

We rolled on a swift second coat of primer once all of our nail holes were sanded smoothed, and then painted the whole thing using a semi-gloss white paint that we had color-matched to the cabinets (we brought in a scrap piece of a filler panel so they could scan it at the paint desk and whip up a close match). Thanks to priming first, we got away with simply one coat of paint, and once it was dry we caulked the edges with our go-to kitchen caulk and called it a day!

I should point out that we had to repeat this whole process on the other side too. So it was not quite as speedy as it would be if you were only doing ONE kitchen, but we completed both of them in a weekend.

It was simply the thing that side of the kitchen needed, so I am truly glad we gave this a try. Gotta enjoy when projects are straightforward, affordable, and hold up well (cause we all know that does not consistently happen).