DIY Cedar Planked or Shiplap Wall Tutorial

Heyhey! Today I'm going to prove to you my obsession with cedar planks :) ...in case you didn't know I had one.

To start off. I'm been on this crazy mission to somewhat 'de-new' our house. It hasn't been real successful. When we were looking to purchase a house, I wanted old. I love the character of older houses. I love everything about older houses. My husband is exactly opposite. So, that didn't work well in my favor especially because where we were looking, the 'oldest' houses were maybe built in the mid nineties. Didn't bode well for me. I figured, as long as there were projects to do in the house, I guess I would be happy. Like redoing the kitchen and bathrooms, tearing down walls, etc etc.

Well, every house we looked at, just didn't 'feel' right..... ya' know what I mean? We just didn't get 'that' feeling. We were actually about to give up, when we decided to do a last ditch effort, and look at the 'probably not, maybe if we have to...umm, actually, lets not even consider these' pile. In the picture, one of those houses was decent on the inside although it had weird alcoves, but on the outside, three front doors. Yes. French doors and then ten feet away, another front door. Odd? Yes. That's why we didn't even consider it. But, in our last ditch effort, we decided to go look at it. And am I ever so glad we did. It was beautiful! It was totally us. I finally got 'that' feeling. The only thing missing? There was nothing to change. Not a thing. Luckily, it had character in the arches and thick molding, so I was convinced to buy the house circa 2007 instead of circa 1940.

So, throughout the years, I've added character through decor and decided to live with the rest of it. Because, in actuality I really did love it. But I still had those big blank problem walls that I never knew what to do with.

 That brings me to my next project :) Cedar planked walls.

 Remember this cedar planked table? I loved it. Absolutely adored it. But it was getting to a point where the hubs wasn't digging it anymore...and really, I would freak out with crazy anxiety every time someone came over cuz if anything was spilled, it would totally seep through the cracks, and get crazy nasty underneath the top, then I would have to take off all the legs and table top in front of the guests....not a good 'dinner party' if you ask me. Anyway. So, we decided to take it off. I didn't know where to put it so I just leaned it up against the wall....and what I saw, I really started liking. Like...a lot.

So I made two more panels like the table top and screwed them into the wall. And....well...

 Didn't look so awesome. Like, it was one of the projects where I ignored looking at. haha. That's when you know its bad :) It just looked really half hazard, gappy....and just not good. Not way bad, but definitely nothing that I wanted to live with.

So, first off. Lets start with how the dining room use to look when we first moved in. Reds, Oranges, Yellows,...a little tuscan-esque. Big blank wall without any character :)

And now with a little more character :) And with the cedar planks positioned a little better.

 Okay. So, the first attempt on the wall was really not put up well. I maybe used 8 screws on the whole wall. I was trying to keep the hubs feelings in mind when putting it up (you know, his complete fear of having holes in the wall thing.), thats why it ended up looking a little shotty :) I knew on this next attempt, I wanted to make it right.

 So. I wanted to work from the middle of the wall out. So, I found the middle. Then screwed in some wood on the closest studs. Then skipped one stud, and screwed some wood to the next stud.

 Luckily I had most of the cedar planks already painted from before, all I had to do was demolish them from eachother which took the longest time. But when I was done, I had a ton of planks to start putting up :) I started on one side, attaching the planks with my nail gun to each piece of wood. Then did the top of the next. Then screwed more wood to the studs, and continued to the bottom. Towards the end, I had to use some new planks. But luckily I had most of them on hand.

 Then I ran into these. Ugh.
But! Nothing a jigsaw wouldn't fix :) I simply measured out the size, cuz it out with a jigsaw, and then put the plank back on.

 My measurement was a little off on this one, but once it was painted white, you barely notice.

 For the sides, I attached more wood to the stud, and then cut out the exact size I needed to fit the gap. I then nailed those in. And no, I usually don't get dressed up to use my nail gun :) I just got home from work and couldn't wait to finish the wall.

I ended up going with this layout because I didn't want all the already painted wood to go to waste, even though it was too small. I wanted to use what I already had and not have to buy much more, so I took the 2 foot pieces and cut them to 10.5 inches each. I laid out multiple configurations, and decided this was the best way. It measures, 10.5 inches, 6 feet, 6 feet, 10.5 inches.

 At each seam, I attached a 1x2. And where the wood met the side wall, I also attached a 1x2.

I absolutely love how this ended up looking. It makes the wall seem so much longer! Although, I'm not completely enamored with the decor right now. I'm thinking of two big round mirrors or maybe a little picture gallery. I'm not sure.

 The room is now a lot brighter too and the planked wall added the perfect amount of character.

 I really do miss the cedar planked table though. Although, the hubs did give me the go ahead to build a totally new table :) Can I just say how beyond excited I am about it ??

I guess there's still the issue that I really like this table and don't want to give it away, cuz if I make a new table, there's no place to put this table; it doesn't fit in any of our storage places :( Talk about conflicting feelings.

Well, at least I have the cedar on the walls and anxiety out of my stomach when we have company over.

This took about 40 or so cedar planks. Which cost a little bit more than I would want :) Although a third of them came from the table, so that cost was already sunk :) This cost about $40 or so dollars for the new planks. Any more ideas for adding character to your home?

Updated: Here it is with my updated decor. Love it!!