WE PANELLED OUR BATHROOM CEILING AND IT LOOKS AMAZING!!

As usual, this project took much longer than expected, but that was mainly life getting in the way and me getting a mental block on how to cut the last board! Overall, I would say a shiplap ceiling is a medium difficultly DIY – if you can cut boards to a length, than you can do this! Honestly, the parts that took the longest were figuring out how to do it and where exactly to place that first board. So here, I’m going to tell you each and every step involved. At least that will be one less thing for you to worry about!

The Math Section!

First, I figured out what width I would like the planks. I grabbed some scrap paper to practise and decided a width of 10cm suited the room best. Next, I tried to find a handy object that would serve as a spacer for the tiny gap between the boards. I had heard that people use pennies or lollipop sticks, but both of those were a little too thick. So I found a dough scraper that was 1mm in width and it suited perfectly!

I knew roughly 7 boards would fit across the ceiling – yes, the ceiling is only 75cm wide!!! So I subtracted a centimeter from the overall width (to allow for the gaps) 75cm -1cm= 74cm

Then divided the remaining width by 7 as that was how many boards I knew I could fit in without trimming them down. 74÷7=10.6cm

I then decided to round it down slightly to 10.5cm to allow for any mistakes. So then I knew that if each board was cut to 10.5cm, seven of them would fit perfectly across.

Getting the boards ready

I bought a 6mm, half sheet of MDF. It was only €32!! B&Q was the only place locally that sold MDF in quantities less than a full sheet. They do provide a cutting service, but a friend of mine cut it into strips, 10.5cm wide, using a table saw. (I have got to get myself one of those!) I then primed them and gave them one coat of paint. I’m using Farrow and Ball All White. It’s the same colour as the door and trim in the bathroom and I wanted the shiplap ceiling to match.

I wouldn’t recommend…

Ok, before I launch into how I attached the boards to the ceiling, I want to say that there is a better way to do this. That is by screwing batons onto the ceiling first and then nailing your shiplap to those batons, instead of directly to the ceiling. There are lots of advantages to this – mainly that if you want to remove the shiplap in the future, the ceiling will be less damaged. Also it ensures that all the shiplap is level as you’re not dealing with wonky ceilings.

I couldn’t do that for our ceilings as it’s a tiny bathroom under the stairs. The level of the ceiling is already extremely low, so I couldn’t add batons, as this would make it even lower! This is why I used glue. Because I used glue, if I ever want to remove the shiplap, I will have to replace the drywall.

Attaching the boards

Remove any light plates or vents that are attached the ceiling. It’s easier than trying to cut around them and it makes for a much cleaner finish.

While you can start at either side of the room, I wanted to make sure the shiplap was very symmetrical, so I began in the middle. Attaching the first board was the hardest. You need to make sure that it’s centered both horizontally and vertically, which can be tricky if you have wonky ceilings and walls like me. You can see above, we drew a line on the ceiling where the two boards will meet.

I then applied a lot of Liquid Nails glue to the back of the board, and then nailed the board to the ceiling. If you had a nail gun, that would be ideal, though I didn’t. My staple gun can convert to a small nail gun, so I used that instead. It worked fine as my room was very small, though I probably would have hired a nail gun if it was a larger room.

You can see above, I measured the irregular shape using a contour gauge. After measuring, I traced the shape onto the board and cut it out using a jigsaw. In our bathroom, I had to cut where the shiplap met the architrave of the door. It was my first time using a jigsaw, but it was easier to use than I thought it would be!

The finishing touches

Once the glue has dried, if there are any nails that are sticking out, use a nail punch to hammer it back in. Then fill all the holes with wood filler and sand the filler back, once dry. Perhaps you might need to caulk some areas – like where I cut around the door architrave. If your filler/caulk gets into the gap between the boards, use a narrow screwdriver (or something similar) to remove it quickly, before it dries. You want to keep that gap looking seamless! Caulking and filling makes such a huge difference to the finished look, so make sure to take your time! Once that’s all dry it’s time to paint!

The light!

I bought this vintage light on Donedeal for a fiver and it’s sooooo pretty when it’s lit up. It’s really hard to get a decent photo of this room, but the light and shiplap have already transformed this tiny little space! I cannot wait to see it with the wallpaper up! (If you’ve forgotten what the wallpaper is, there’s a sneak peek of it in the mood board!)

So what do you think of this shiplap ceiling?