It’s Saturday evening, I’m sipping wine and doing my usual Pinterest scroll. I was looking for some inspiration on how I can spice up our living room when I came across this board with this amazing DIY kitchen island faux shiplap. I can’t remember the actual board but this started my journey down the rabbit hole of DIY shiplap. Now I was never a huge fan of shiplap. I considered it to be more of a farmhouse style. But after stalking some Instagram pages I learned shiplap can be turned into a modern look. So I gave my husband the “you know I was thinking” speech and next thing you know Sunday morning we were filling our Home Depot cart with material.
If you have been following our Instagram, @by.nativenoir, you know this is actually my second go-around on our kitchen island. I painted it black about a year ago. Although I loved it, I didn’t love my poor choice in paint. Within a few weeks the paint was chipping. So I had plans to strip the paint and go with a better quality in the future. This project saved me from that future agony. You’re wondering what paint I went with this time aren’t you? Only the best, Behr Marquee in Limousine Leather. It looks as sexy as it sounds. I love this brand for creating a one coat finish, a stain and scratch proof coat, and clean up is easy with a little soap and water. Can’t ask for anything better.
This DIY was honestly so easy we actually got a little worried when everything was going so well. Every piece was fitting perfectly and we have one tool to thank for that. The MVP of the project goes to the Kreg 24 in. Rip-Cut Aluminum Circular Saw Guide we purchased from Home Depot. No table saw? No problem! For $40 you can buy this and start your shiplap project of your dreams. I was amazed at how easy it was to set up the Kreg Saw Guide to our circular saw and how easy it was to cut such straight lines with ease. If it wasn’t for this tool we would have not been able to complete this project.
Now let’s get to the rest of the materials:
- Kreg 24in Rip-Cut Aluminum Circular Saw Guide
- 1/5 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. Hardwood Plywood Underlayment Specialty Panel, We purchased two to complete the island
- 1 in. x 4 in. x 10 ft. Select Kiln-Dried Whitewood Board
- 1 gallon Behr Marquee In Limousine Leather Matte
- 4in paint roller, 1in angled sash paint brush, and paint tray
- ScotchBlue 2 ft. x 30 yd. Tape plus Plastic with Dispenser
Tools:
- Circular Saw
- Jig Saw
- Miter Saw
- Nail Gun
First thing we did was remove all the base boards from the kitchen island. I like the look of the shiplap flushed with the flooring. This step is not needed if you don’t like that look. And as you can see in the second picture that paint was not meant for a kitchen island. It was all scraped up.
To ensure the strips laid even on the island we had to remove the drywall bump on each side. I don’t know why our island was created like that but I honestly always hated the look of that bump because it could have easily been made to align with the cabinets. This is how it looked when removed the extra drywall. Nice and flat.
After we got all our measurements it was time to try out our new toy. The Kreg Circular Saw Guide was so cool to use. It fits any circular saw and as you can see it glides so smooth. We chose 1/4 in plywood because that was what another DIYer chose for their project. Not going to lie I was skeptical at first. It looked so thin. I didn’t think it would give the look of real boarding but I was obviously wrong. It was perfect. Now important tip: because the plywood is so thin when nailing these onto the island we had to adjust the depth of the nail gun. I will talk about this a little more when I get to that step. We cut each strip 4 inches in width with the exception of the top and bottom strips being 3 inches for fitting. Again this was our preference you can go thinner or thicker to get your desired look. Our island is roughly 7ft making the length of the plywood about the same size. We added like 1/4 inch on each side so they hung over the corners. This helped us when we added the siding ensuring they met flushed against the rounded corners. That eliminated any possible gapping.
The plywood is so thin that when we started nailing it the island one side would flop over. It wasn’t a huge issue but kind of annoying so I came up with this idea of using adhesive spray on the back side to make it stick to the island then nailing it. It helped in keeping them straight but they didn’t stick long. That may have been because of the prior paint job. Another issue we had with the thinness of the plywood was nailing it. Very important tip: Adjust the depth of the nail gun to the lowest setting. We did not the first time and the nail shot right through the plywood.
Just like our plywood strips were 4 inches we bought 1×4 boards. We cut 45 degree angles for each corner with a miter saw. Nailing them over top of the strips required to again adjust the nail gun depth but this time opposite of the lowest depth. We just went back to the normal depth and it was fine. We did not add adhesive spray to these since they were way heavier than the plywood strips. Not pictured is us cutting the holes out for the sockets with a jigsaw.
Down to the final steps. I loved my black kitchen island so I knew I would choose this color again. This time I made the smart decision and chose Behr Marquee to get the job done. I am just in love with this paint line. One coat and the job is done. I am no expert painter so I make messes but I never fret because a little soap and water literally cleans the little messes up. I usually always choose matte because I like that look but Behr Marquee matte finish doesn’t come out dull and chalky like I’ve seen other matte paints. As you can see that is just one coat. With a few touch ups on the corners I was done. I also spray painted the socket plates. They usually come out better when you spray paint them versus painting them.
And there you have it. My take on a modern style shiplap. Our brown kitchen stools looks so good against the black. The island looks like it was built with the house. I am so happy with the final result. We are already talking about creating an accent wall using this same method to match the kitchen island. Let me know what you think of this project. Follow our Instagram and share some tips on how you would of done this.
Native Noir 