DIY - Entryway shiplap accent wall

Last year, I was asking my husband Rich to shiplap every wall in our home just about every weekend! Lol. We don’t have alot of living space so he asked me to be careful and leave some clean walls so it won’t look too busy. We decided to use shiplap only for accent walls. After searching Pinterest for ideas we decided to make a change to our entry wall. Since then, it has become one of our favorite spaces at home. We don’t only get tons of compliments on it but I have to say it’s so practical for us (it’s all about practical spaces for our family :)) 

Many of my amazing Instagram followers have been asking for sources on this accent shiplap wall and also for a tutorial so here we GO!

First, let’s start with the materials we used:

1- 4x8 Underlayment(Luan) board from Home Depot $13.98 cut in 6” wide (if you asked the lumber department to cut it for you they are usually very helpful). Then you can just use a hand sander to go over the sides to avoid splinters. We then used left over white paint from our cabinets to paint it. The color is “Simply White” from Bejamin Moore.

2 corbels to support the shelf and to give it character. We got ours as natural wood. They came as a pair for $8.71. The dimensions of ours are: 2-1/4” x 5” x 7”. 

1 can of of black spray paint. We use Rust-Oleum 12oz satin black paint with primer. We bought it for $4.78 and had more than half a can left over for other projects! 

1-1”x8” oak plank. They usually charge per foot and our board is 3 1/2 feet long. $16.66 is what we paid. We bought it a bit shorter than the actual shiplap boards so the shelf wouldn’t overhang. 

1 small can Minwax “Dark Walnut” stain for the shelf plank. We bought an 8oz can for $5.48 and had 3/4 left. Make sure you use gloves when you stain and old rugs to rub it in.

To nail the shiplap we used 1” brads (nails) and a Passload gun but you could use trim nails and a hammer with a nail set. 

To hang the corbels we upgraded from the 1” screws provided and went with 2” heavy duty small head deck screws and miraculously hit both beams! The corbels had a metal support bracket in the back of them allowing them to slip down on the screw heads securing them to the wall. Two screws were used for each allowing for proper shelf support. 

6 black farmhouse hooks we bought from Hobby Lobby. If you shop at Hobby Lobby you know they rotate their sales every week and a least once every 3 weeks they will have a metal sale. Take advantage that week to purchase them and get them on sale! Regular price is $5.99 each and I bought them for $2.99 each. If you want to buy them online do a search for: “black single retro iron wall hook”. 

Other items: small paint roller, paint brush, rug or towel, gloves, measuring tape, 4' level, drill.

The total time Rich spent doing this project was an hour and a half. That’s including painting.

 Here we go!

First, remember we asked our Home Depot employee to cut our underlayment. That said, their saw is not really adjusted for exact cuts. Each piece will be slightly different. This is OK if you mark each piece as they are cut. Don’t focus on each piece being perfectly level. What your looking for is the top, bottom and sides to be square. You basically start with 1 at the top and work down. 

We then found the center of the area we wanted to install our shiplap. We basically opened the front door and found the center of the wall that remained while the door was opened. Now that we had our starting point we measured down 1’ from our 8’ ceiling and with a pencil and a 4’ level lightly marked it. 

Our 1st board: Following our line we installed our first board labeled #1 and using our Passload gun we drove in few brads while double checking for level. Then continued down our wall while using a nickel for a spacer between boards. 

On our project we choose to do a 4’W x 3’H area. Once we completed our run of boards it was time to prep for paint. Using a small old tub of wood filler we filled each small nail hole. Once dried it was time for a light sanding. We just used a small square sponge type sanding block. 

Using a small 6” roller we applied our first coat of paint which seemed to dry before we finished. We then applied a second coat and followed up with a good paint brush softly back brushing our work. Make sure to brush gently so everything looks uniform when complete. 

Next we took our corbels and sprayed them with a coat of can black paint.. Once dried it was time to install. We marked out our shiplap area measuring down 8” and over from each side 6”. This was to be the top screw to mount each of them. Using a 2” deck screw we installed our first screw leaving about 1/8” of the head sticking out to support them. Our next hole in the back of the corbels was an 1 1/2” down from that and another screw was installed for each. Then the corbels were positioned over the screw heads and slid down securing them to the wall.

Time for our oak plank to become a shelf! Using a folded up rag we applied our stain and removed it quickly. We then centered our shelf over our corbels and drove a few brads into them to secure it. 

We then took our 6 hooks and VERY lightly using a pencil and our level marked a line 8” up from the bottom of our lowest board. This was our center for our hooks. After spacing them out across this line we again installed our deck screws, this time only using 1 per hook. Finishing up we slid each hook into its screw securing it in place.

Then we added a beautiful sign with our family last name, some fun pieces of home decor and we had a new refreshed space! We love this look: it adds a farmhouse as soon as you walk in, its much easier than shiplap-ing and entire wall and it serves as a practical place to hang your coats, handbags, backpacks and still manage to decorate seasonally.

We thank you for your time reading this and we hope you love it. We love to hear your comments or questions so make sure to leave them :)

For more inspiration on how to decorate this space seasonally make sure to follow along our journey on Instagram. You can find us with our handle: @oak.hill.farms