DIY Shiplap Fireplace Makeover

When we first bought our house, the fireplace had a decorative picture frame molding square above it.  It was cute but not necessarily our style.  It also really limited what we could do with the space because we had to fill the giant empty box.  This is what it looked like:

From the time we moved in, I had wanted to do something to this space.  I dreamed of shiplapping it but wasn't sure how it would turn out.  The bottom part of our fireplace has a lot of decorative molding and I was worried the two styles would clash. Although, after a few months, and a lot of Pinterest and Instagram inspiration, my husband and I decided to go for it.  We figured, if we didn't like it, we could take it down. 

We started by carefully ripping off the decorative molding that formed the giant rectangle above the mantle. We tried to do this as carefully as possible but knew that whatever we ripped off would be covered by the shiplap.  This process took all of 5 minutes to complete.  

We decided that we wanted to try and keep the crown molding at the top because I thought it would tie the shiplap in with the decorative molding on the fire place, plus it would be a great way to cap the top of the shiplap and make it look more complete.  This is what it looked like once it was all removed.  

After that, we began measuring the space from the top of our fireplace up to the crown molding at the top since we planned on keeping that.  Once we measured it out we did some simple math to figure out what size we needed our slats to be.  The space we were working with was 54 inches tall so we tried a couple ways to divide out the slats and decided we liked the look of 8 slats.  We divided 54 by 8 which gave us 6.75.  This is the height each individual slat would need to be ripped down to.  **When figuring out the width you want your slats to be, keep in mind that you are going to be spacing your shiplap slats out with a penny so depending on how many slats you want, this could end up giving you about an inch of extra space you need to account for.  

You also need to decide what length and width you want the vertical slats on the side to be, if you decide to add them.  For us, we made ours a little narrower and longer to accommodate for the length of the space we needed.  

Next, we headed to Lowe's to see what type of wood we wanted to use.  We had planned on leaving the molding in tacked so we needed to find wood that would be flush with the bottom of the crown molding (meaning we didn't want the shiplap slaps to stick out further than the crown making it look like it didn't belong).  If this is something you aren't concerned about because you are adding your own crown molding on top then you don't need to worry about this part and could use a different width of wood).  We decided on using a large sheet of quarter plywood that we had ripped down at Lowe's to the sizes we had calculated at home.  You could obviously do this part at home if you had the correct tools but it was just easier for us to do it there and it fit in the car better :) 

Once we figured out the math and laid out the shiplap pieces, it was time to get the nail gun and go to work.  We decided to use pennies to space out our shiplap pieces.  We wanted there to be a space between the slats but didn't want them to be too far apart and look unfinished or sloppy.  We put the first piece of board up next to the crown molding, making sure it was perfectly centered and that there would be enough space for the side pieces we wanted to cap it with. We used pennies to space the first slat from the molding and then we used the nail gun to place several nails into the wall, spacing them out across the board.  Now, you could use Liquid Nails or some other type of adhesive to make sure the boards stay put, but we agreed that the nail gun was plenty enough to keep the boards in place and if we ever (which I highly doubt we will) decide to take them down, it would be a much easier process to remove them.  

Once the first piece was up, the process went really quickly.  We placed the next slat on the wall, used the pennies as spacers and put a bajillion nails into the wood using the nail gun.  

Then, we used the skinnier slats to cap the sides of the shiplap, using a level and pennies again to space.  Once it was lined up correctly, again, we used the nail gun and finally we had this: 

After all of the boards were attached to the wall, we caulked all of the nail holes and a tiny gap we had at the bottom that was a little more spaced out than I liked, waited about an hour and sanded.  

Then came the paint.  We taped off the wood around the corners so it didn't get on the walls and used a primer + paint by Sherwin Williams that was left over from the previous homeowners that was used to paint all the trim and moulding around the fireplace.  

It took about four coats of paint when it was all said and done.  Here is what it looked like after about 2 coats.

Finally, once the paint dried, we removed the tape and I got to style our new shiplapped fireplace mantle!  We are so happy with the results and it couldn't have been easier!  All in all, it took an afternoon to complete and I think it makes a huge difference.

My husband and I decided against hanging something directly onto the shiplap but if this is the route you want to go down, you may want to use the Liquid Nails before nailing the slats up and then use a dry wall nail to make sure it is extra secure.

Thank you for stopping by!  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.  I would be happy to help in any way! Happy DIY'ing!