I started in on the kids’ bathrooms back in February. Shiplap was the name of the game. I’m convinced there isn’t much that a little shiplap can’t fix. Amiright?! While I had that part knocked out in a week for both bathrooms, it took me forever to get around to doing the little stuff like adding knobs. Today I wanted to share with you guys Sam’s bathroom!
Before I share the rest of the photos I want to show you where this bathroom began. Plain ‘ol builder’s bath. Nothing wrong with it. It was brand new and clean, but boooooriiiiing.
I wanted to give it some character and not spend a bunch of money. To do so I added shiplap to the bottom 2/3rds of the walls. It changed everything! I then salvaged the builder’s mirror, framed it out with 1×2’s, and stained it grey. Lighting and fixtures stayed the same. Everything else was just adding accessories. The wall color even stayed the same, it’s just hard to tell since the before photos were at night with the lights on.
I took the towel bar down from over the toilet (those always make me crazy over a toilet), and in the reflection of the mirror you can see his new towel hook. A rhino head I had bought a while ago and never did anything with. Here’s to hoarding animal heads!
These cup pulls were another purchase I had made years ago, but never had a home for until now.
Ok. so public service announcement time. You’ve heard people talk about how important it is to hang your window curtains higher, well the same goes for shower curtains. In this first before and after you can see what a huge difference it makes. The room looks so much taller now. The chevron shower curtain was a repurpose of Sam’s old window curtains I had made for his nursery. You can see how I made the print here.
TIPS ON SHIPLAP
There are a ton of tutorials on DIY shiplap and a ton of different materials you can use to get the look. I didn’t use a particular tutorial, but I did search them all out to see what types of materials people were using.
Material: I decided to go with a thin 5mm sanded plywood. For two bathrooms (I also did the same in Izzy’s larger bathroom) I used 5 panels. Each panel measured 48″x96″ and was under $14. Score! To save me from lugging out our table saw I had the folks at Lowes cut down my strips for me to 6″. HUGE time saver. I also purchased some 1×2 pieces of pine to finish off the top of the shiplap.
Prep: What ever material you decide to use, make sure to measure out where your studs are so you can be sure you’re nailing into them as you go. I recommend using a stud finder because sometimes those things aren’t spaced out evenly. Shocking I know (grumbling to myself about our builder).
Spacing: A nickel was the perfect spacer for the look I was after. Grab a few of those because they’ll go flying or missing and you’ll want extras laying close by.
Starting Point: As far as where to start, top down or bottom up, I did neither ;D I wanted to make as few strange cuts or notches as possible so I started my first board on top of the sink back splash and worked my way up and then back down.
Outlets: Since your wall will be thicker where the shiplap is placed, your outlets will need to be pulled out further so the cover plates will fit correctly. I failed to get a photo of it but you can find outlet spacers to solve that problem at a home improvement store.
Cost: All in I don’t even think this complete makeover cost $75. That’s with primer, paint and accessories. Not bad at all!
SOURCES: wall color – PPG Palamino Grey . shiplap color – PPG White Chip . DIY chevron print curtain . lights . cup pulls (Hobby Lobby clearance) . black knobs . owl print . rhino head as towel hook (Homegoods) . soap dispenser (Homegoods) . striped bath towel (TJMaxx) . grey hand towel . wood bowl . wood panels for shiplap
SHOP THE LOOK:
Looks beautiful! Do you put any sort of coating on the wood to keep it waterproof? I'd love to do something similar in our master but I'd worry that the steam/moisture would eventually have a negative effect on the wood? Or maybe that's just my paranoia??
I didn't use a special coating, just primer and a satin interior paint. I also used caulk along the vertical seams that butted up to the shower tile, door trim, and then down along the baseboard. If a lot of moisture and steam is a concern, I would probably go with a thicker wood. Or the real deal ship lap fits together with a tongue and grove, but I'm not sure of the cost.
stunning! your home is so amazing- i love every space. 🙂
what color grey did you paint or stain the mirror frame
It’s Minwax Classic Gray
It is shocking how transformed it is now!!! Amazing job, I love love love it!!!
You always amaze me!! I'd love to do this in our little ones bathroom!
Tada! It looks awesome.
Wow. I love it! That's a major change.
DIY diva!! Shiplap makes such an awesome impact, I must do this. Like Izzy's bathroom, Sam's space is completely transformed. Freaking love it.
This is amazing! I love both of your bathroom makeovers! I even went out today and bought some plywood! I was wondering though how you did your frame for the mirror? Did you just cut the pieces then glue them? Or how did you go about attaching it all? Thanks!!
Yea on getting started on your shiplap!!! The mirror was a little tricky and, truth be told, I didn't think it was going to work. For this mirror I cut a piece of plywood the exact size of the mirror and used a mirror adhesive to attach it to the back of the mirror. I used 1×2's that I stained grey for the frame. To keep the plywood from showing along the sides you can attach the 1×2's along the sides with a thin bead of adhesive, making sure it doesn't ooze out to the mirror OR, you can use a small bracket to attach the 1×2 to the plywood from the back (this is what I did since I didn't want to wait for glue to dry). Then add heavy duty hanging hardware to the back of the mirror. If your mirror is hanging away from the top part of the wall (like mine, since the shiplap didn't go all the way up) you'll want to use extra long screws in studs to hang it. I hope this helps!
Hi there, just wondering if you've noticed any changes in the plywood? We're building a house this fall and I've been drooling over shiplap in the guest bath but I'm nervous about moisture + wood. Thanks so much!!
Hi Rebecca! We've had the shiplap up in both my son and daughter's bathrooms a little over a year now and haven't seen any changes. There hasn't been any buckling or warping of the wood. It looks exactly the same as when we first installed it! My guess is people could run into an issue with that if it's in a bathroom where they regularly take steamy showers with the doors closed and no fan on. But with it being in our kids' bathrooms and a guest room, we don't have that issue. Best of luck!
Hello! Your room looks amazing! One quick question— what did you do in the corners where the 2 pieces meet?
Thank you, Julie! I didn't miter any of the corners, I just placed the first piece all the way into the corner and butted the second piece right up to the first. WAY more easy than mitering! I also didn't have any outside corners, which would have been candidates for mitered edges.
That is gorgeous. You did such a beautiful job. thanks for sharing
Beautiful! I'm so impressed with your design skills. thanks for sharing
This is the incredible renovation done and this is looking attractive and awesome. thanks for sharing with us
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Hello! I want to hang my shower curtain higher but am having a really hard time finding a dasher liner for the inside that is long enough. Where did you fine yours?
They are difficult to find, aren’t they?!! I found ours at Bed Bath and Beyond.