You guys, I adore the show Fixer Upper on HGTV. A. Dore. It.
Don't even get me started on how I can spend a Sunday afternoon vegging out in front of the tv watching old episodes on Netflix. Start the day off in my jammies and next thing you know it's dinnertime and I still haven't taken a shower.
Day gone.
OK, I'm 4 sentences into this post and I just lied to you.
I'm about to make blog suicide here.
Here it comes . . .
Shiplap
I just can't do it. Not in my house. Not in my lifetime.
I know, I know. It's all the rage on their Fixer Upper program. Shiplap on walls, shiplap on fireplaces, shiplap on ceilings.
Here a shiplap, there a shiplap, everywhere a shiplap lap.
But seriously, you know what I see when I look at shiplap?
Paneling from the 1970's.
And here's the thing. I lived in the 70's. I saw people go paneling crazy in their houses.
No room was off limits and there were entire homes covered head to toe in the stuff. Head. To. Toe.
Wood tone paneling, faux barnwood paneling, cheap laminated paneling. Even avocado colored paneling.
Avocado colored wood???
And then, sometime in the 80's, everyone got tired of paneling. Really really tired of it.
And then had to figure out how to get rid of it.
Huge undertaking. HUGE.
It wasn't just nailed up there, it was glued with some sort of super human strength glue. And when you took it down it split into pieces and the plaster behind it would chunk off and you'd be left with a huge mess which cost a fortune to then fix.
So whenever I see the gorgeous rooms on Fixer Upper, I ooh and ah over their kitchen renovations, their amazing transformation of the ugly and the outdated and their creative use of space.
But when I see the shiplap walls, all I can picture is the Brady Bunch rec room.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.
Or is it Joanna, Joanna, Joanna?
There's just some trends that I am too old to look at in awe and wonder and not have flashbacks to the first time they came around.
Rock on Chip and Joanna, you're still my heroes. I'm not breaking up with you or anything, but I just can't get on board with the shiplap/paneling trend this go-round.
So I'll see you Sunday. I'll be the one sitting on the couch with the unwashed hair.
Are there any design trends that you just can't get on board with?
Rebecca
So glad I'm not the only one who can't figure out the shiplap craze. It's EVVVERYWHERE.
KathyT
Sorry to necra-post but I agree wholeheartedly. We should invent an easy to remove shiplap product. Thin strips could be glued to paper and go up like wallpaper. We will get rich. But then again, one of the commenters here said she would do shiplap but never wallpaper, because it is so difficult to remove. I shook my head on that one. Shiplap is going to be much more difficult to make go away than any paper. I do remember the shiplap walls in my grandmother's house where the new upstairs was added and an outside wall became an inside wall. It was really beautiful and it fit that waterfront property perfectly. It was genuine rather than contrived. Before I do anything to my house I think about how difficult it will be to undo. How an architectural detail will age depends on the house style and how well the two fit. The shiplap will probably look better on a beach house 30 years from now than it will on most new suburban construction. Just like the 60s paneling looks great on a mid-century modern house, but it got terribly dated in my parents 40s Colonial. It is pretty now. But I would caution people to use it very sparingly like on an island, or one wall of a bathroom or bedroom like in my grandmother's house. Wall to wall is just silly, and any fade this popular will burn bright and fade quickly. Gosh it is going to be such a mess.
Pam
Someone makes a product that is like peel and stick flooring (remember the tiles people used to use) but it's for use on walls to look like shiplap. Sounds even worse to get off than paneling would be 🙂
Tonya
After reading the comments, I can pretty much assume my home would be offensive to many here. I painted my kitchen cabinets white, I faux shiplapped a wall and ceiling with drywall damage (a very economical solution to a very ugly problem), I love subway tile (something we had growing up in our bathroom) and used it liberally in both the kitchen and bath, and I am quite positive I have some of those 'non authentic' antiques. It seems people feel so strongly about design and decor. It's wonderful to have an opinion, to talk of our likes and dislikes, but I always walk away from these posts feeling a bit deflated. A friend of mine actually sent me here...she teasingly said 'hey, everyone hates your house!' Looking at my diy curtains I can't help but smile. I like them. That is all that is supposed to matter, right? And here I thought that women were judging me about my lack of fashion sense and really they were just hating on my pedestal sink with no storage!
Pam
No!!! Please don't take my post that way. All I was trying to say (and maybe I didn't say it clearly enough) is that I love the shiplap look IN SOMEONE ELSE'S HOUSE. Having seen the paneling trend come and go and the aftermath of getting that stuff off the walls, I just can't get on board with the shiplap look HERE. Do you read Golden Boys And Me's blog? She has the cutest house and it's covered in shiplap (and subway tile) and I ADORE it. Every single time she writes a post I see something else I want to do to my house . . . well, except for the shiplap 🙂
And BTW, I had to fight tooth and nail with both my husband and the contractor who did my son's bathroom to get my pedestal sink in there. They both were adamant that I would not like it because it had no storage, blah blah blah. I seriously can't tell you how much the contractor tried to talk me out of it. And, of course, they were wrong. I LOVE it!!!
Kristen
I agree ^^^???!!! I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this!! I just moved into a brand new home from a home that had painted paneling. I hated it!!!! I guess my old house is trendy again ?. I think there will be some super regretful ppl come 10 years from now.
Amanda Thompson
I found this blog when I googled shiplap and totally agree. I have another dilemna! The white painted cupboards in my new home. We are gutting it because they are not solid but I am not sure what to replace it with!!! The trend would tell me gray cupboards but in 10 years I am sure we are all going to be de-graying everything. I want to do wood but I am not sure what wood! My last kitchen was remodeled with modern dark wood and all the buyers wanted white. I'm not a fan of white, at all. What the heck people?! What wood?! Help!
Pam
I see gray cabinets all over the place right now, but I honestly think it's going to be a very quick trend. I sort of like the color of pecan. It's a nice warm brown, but not as dark as cherry and not as rustic as oak.
Monica
I have my own take on the farmhouse craze. I grew up in a farm house that was built in the late 1800's. My kitchen had beadboard and wood counters and painted white cabinets. My grandmother (who lived with us) had a large cararra marble cutting board on the counter at all times. We had zebra wood paneling in the entire house. These are solid materials, authenic materials built by craftsmen. So I am naturally drawn to farmhouse style. Fast forward *cough* a few years and now its a "thing". Now I feel like I cant have marble, or paneling or farmhouse style because its SO in, and if it's in it will be OUT. I just bought a house with natural wood cabinets in the kitchen and as much as I love cream cabinets I might very well leave them wood colored only because everyone and their dog is painting their cabinets white. Im at a point in my life where I want things to be unique. As much as I love the look of shiplap I'd never put it on my walls because it will be the board and batten of the early 2000's (remember that?) I'm trying not to get too sucked in to Pinterest and make my home MY own style. I cant say that I wont use any pine planks (vertically) in this new house only because I think it looks cozy and I have low ceilings, but if I do it will be knowing that in 5 years they may look dated and I'll have to be ok with that.
Leslie
While I still
Like the look of ship lap, especially in the renovations they do, you've given a VERY good argument on why someone should think long and hard before they start to use a nail gun to attach the stiff to every square inch of their walls- especially considering the tutorials for how to achieve the look for less have you attaching the stuff to every stud... Then filling in the holes to hide it.... Yep. I think you've talked me out of it for my house... That would be worse than wallpaper to remove!!! I'm really glad I found this post!! 🙂
Pam
Glad it helped 🙂 Kim at Savvy Southern Style used wallpaper that looks like shiplap in her bedroom and it really does look nice - here's the link if you want to check it out. If I remember correctly, I think she said it was the totally removable kind. Sort of like contact paper for walls, but looks more realistic 🙂
Jeffrey Hanning
Here is my problem with shiplap. It was used in construction because it was cheap. It was a lot cheaper than plaster that would have cracked and looked really bad in most parts of Texas. Another reason its bad to leaved exposed. Older homes, particularly in Texas were not insulated at all. Siding on the outside walls and shiplap on the inside covered with wallpaper. If you pull everything off the shiplap and don't insulate its going to leak like a sieve, (hot air, cold air, wind), You can't just throw insulation in the walls of an old house either, it can not breathe like it was meant to and mold and rot become a problem. So, unless you are going all the way and strip the siding off the outside, put up a real vapor barrier and then insulate the shiplap is going to cause problems. Of course this just for exterior walls, interior walls are a different matter. Just my thought on the matter
Pam
Very interesting! I was coming at it from a "decorating" angle, but I guess there's also the construction aspect. Great points!
Tony
Closed cell insulation. We bought an old church building that is 100% shiplap interior- stem to stern.
Tonya
Just read through every comment on here and have decided against installing fake shiplap on my walls. Thank you. Although, my last kitchen remodel I did install gray cabinets, and subway tile. 🙂
Stacy
Funny. No one is addressing all the perfectly good tile that, despise it's great shape, is torn down in most remodels because it has become "dated". All things come in and go out of style. No one style will be perfect for everyone. To each his own?
Nicole Winkles
SO MUCH YES!! I feel the exact same!!
Elyce
As much as I love to binge watch all the HGTV shows that have the exact same design every time (Fixer Upper, Property Brothers, and Flip or Flop being my favorites), I can't stand the shiplap trend. I just bought my first house last year and I'm lucky there is only paneling in the dining room/kitchen. I don't know if they randomly only put it in there or if at some point in this house's 50 year life, someone took it out of the rest of the house. It was already painted when I got the house, so I merely painted it a different color. Shiplap is just paneling turned on its side to me. Actually, I have some shiplap in my garage, though it's not nearly as well put-together or cute as FU makes it look. It was slapped on at some point in the past, probably when the house was built. I live very near Texas, so maybe that's why.
Other than the shiplap trend, though, I do subscribe to other "pinterest" trends. My living room is grey, as is the couch and dining room chairs, and carpet in the bedrooms. I plan on repainting the kitchen cabinets white (yes, despite what commenters here think). Currently, they're an ugly buttermilk yellow, combined with original ugly 1964 rust brown tile backsplash. The same tile is in every bathroom too, ugh. I got it partially out of the guest bath in my remodel, but it's still in the shower. When I rip it out, I plan on putting in subway tile (another trend!). I figure it may be a trend, but it's also a classic and when I sell my house in a few years, someone won't walk in and say, "ew, look at that brown tile. Gross." I want it to be known (to potential buyers, as you do when looking at houses) as "the cute A frame house" not the "ugly kitchen" house. You don't want to know what I nicknamed the houses I saw when looking (The "die in a fire" house, the "serial killer" house, the "pinterest" house that was dark grey and bright yellow with chevrons on the wall, etc).
I guess all this rambling is just saying I don't see the point of shiplap or trends that aren't easily changed (don't remind me of the wallpaper I took down in the bathroom). Paint is easy, floors, painting cabinets. All easy changes, but tearing down panelling... I'm not even going to attempt it in my house.
Jeffrey Coggins
i agree in the sense of it being used in a way that every room looks like a big collection of the same thing. however, i have seen beautiful work done by painting it different colors in different rooms of the house much like drywall and it’s an amazing difference compared to what has been normalized (everything white shiplap). i have installed the smooth version, not the raw, above wainscoting and painted it in different colors throughout a home. it really makes the home feel cohesive walking throughout, but just enough difference in color palettes of furniture and design throughout. i wish more people were creative with it, even perhaps stenciling on it, rather than just popping up white shiplap.
Lori
Agree with all the overdone “farmhouse” trend that is happening in every renovation or new build happening today. Why does everyone want their house to the same?? Here’s what REALLY makes me scratch my head...concrete tiles that look like a quilt was laid on the floor! Aside from the crazy busy pattern, do people not realize that it will require a jackhammer to remove in 10 years when you just can’t stand to look at it anymore?? I can’t even...
cathie
well it's March 2020, and this trend is still in full swing... Please for the love of god, stop it people- you don't live on a farm or down the shore. NO, no more.
I can't imagine taking all this paneling down if 10 years. ugh!