Pencil Shiplap: Get The Shiplap Look Without Spending A Dime

Shiplap was made super famous by Joanna Gaines, but the trend doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

In fact, if you ask me I think it’s here to stay long term. There’s something so simple, humble, and timeless about it, don’t you think?

And if it were up to me, I’d shiplap every square inch of my home, but that could get out of hand fast.

Not only do I not have the time and budget for that, but for a DIY-er without a good saw (I know, I know) just wouldn’t know where to start.

But I don’t give up that easily.

So I started to do my homework. How could I get that shiplap look for way less? And how could I make sure it looked good?

I had already tried shiplap wallpaper in the house, and I loved it. But this time, I wanted to try something a little different.

Not to mention, I really wasn’t looking to spend any money.

I was in the middle of a laundry room refresh and was planning to use white paint we had on hand to paint the space.

Then I had an idea….

What if I drew it on the walls? I’d heard about people doing “Sharpie Shiplap” on their walls, but I didn’t want those bold, black lines in such a small space.

So that’s when I decided to try pencil instead. Talk about a safe choice – I could always erase it if I didn’t like it!

PENCIL SHIPLAP: GET THE SHIPLAP LOOK WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME

I was determined to make this work, so I started by painting the walls white as planned. I painted two coats of Behr Premium Plus Ultra Pure White.

GATHER YOUR SUPPLIES & MEASURE

Then I gathered my many, many hard to find materials (ahem, kidding)…

• A pencil
• A yardstick
• A level

I started by measuring down the wall and adding small pencil marks every 5 inches to respresent 5 inch shiplap boards. I did this on both sides of the wall for reference points.

START DRAWING

Then, I simply took my yardstick and lined it up with the notches, held up my yardstick so I’d be able to draw a straight line, and used my level to ensure the yardstick was totally straight.

I cannot encourage you enough to use a level throughout this entire process! Our walls aren’t perfectly aligned, so this was crucial for my lines to be straight.

Also… be prepared to be a little patient. I had some trouble with my yardstick slipping as I was trying to draw my shiplap lines, which led to some mistakes.

Oh and a bonus… be prepared for your children to run in and ask if they, too, can draw on the walls. That was a tough one to explain! Anyways…

If you have someone who can help you hold your yardstick while you draw your shiplap lines, I highly recommend it! You’ll complete this project in far less time.

Now part of me wishes I could tell you there are so many other steps to this process. That it was a hard project that turned out great after blood, sweat, and tears, but you should know by now I’m not that kind of DIY-er!

So that’s basically it.

Measure, level, draw, repeat!

Simply repeat this process until your walls have been successfully shiplapped!

BONUS STEP

If you’d like, you can stop right there. Step back, and admire your work! I chose to take one more step.

I took a paint brush and my Behr Premium Plus Ultra Pure White paint and brushed paint on all my pencil shiplap boards to add a little dimension and texture so the walls weren’t a solid white.

This extra step only took me about 10-15 minutes, and I think it added a lot!

If you’d like to take a more drastic approach, you could use an off-white paint for this step, but don’t choose a color that’s too different from your base as it will end up taking away from your shiplap!

Simply create brush strokes, making sure to go horizontally and not hit any of your pencil lines, until you’ve reached your desired outcome!

YES, IT’S REALLY THAT SIMPLE

And that’s it! See I told you it was simple. And odds are you already have all (or most) of these materials in your home already!

Talk about a cheap and easy way to achieve that shiplap look! And boy does it make a difference!

So what do you think? Will you give it a try? Honestly, you have absolutely nothing to lose!

Want more easy do-it-yourself ideas? Check out my floor stenciling tutorial and my shiplap wallpaper how to!