DIY Shiplap Valances

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Long story short, we absolutely love our DIY shiplap valances, and you should definitely consider them in your own home.

If you’ve been living under a bridge, away from modern society, chances are, you still know all about Joanna Gaines and her love of all things shiplap. When historians look back at this period of civilization, I’m pretty sure this is going to be known as the Shiplap Years. We are a people obsessed, obsessed with that crisp white, homey, classic look of shiplap. So of course, I had to jump in. What kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t?

When we bought our home, the people who had lived here before loved the house and took excellent care of it. However, we had very different style. When we moved in, it looked like 1995 had thrown a party full of tuscan tapestries and beige on beige on beige. Like, so much beige y’all. So much. It’s a charming little ranch home, a couple blocks away from the beach. Which sounds super cool, but living on an island means that everyone is a couple blocks away from the beach. Being that we live on an island and the A-type in me tries to live that laid back island life, I thought that turning our home into a modern coastal sanctuary was the perfect fit.

One of the things I really disliked about our home was that it had the most intense valance/curtain combo ever. How could you feel like you were stepping into a relaxing beach house with red tapestry curtains and matching valance screaming at you the moment you walked in the door? It didn’t feel like us, it didn’t feel like home. So, that was one of the first things I wanted to change out.

Yeah, it was bad.

While looking around at curtain options, I was struggling with, do we keep valances or not? We have a pulley system for the curtains, the top of which is not pretty. So while I really liked the functionality of it, it meant we would need to do a valance of some sort. Most valances I came across felt large, clunky, and dated. So after what seemed like an eternity of searching, I asked the handsome hunk if he thought he could make some. Let me tell you, getting married to someone who is handy, is one of the best life choices I’ve made. He told me to tell him what I wanted, and he would make it happen.

I hadn’t seen shiplap valances anywhere, but all at once the idea struck me as I was touring a home with a shiplap accent wall. I wanted shiplap valnces. So, I told the handsome hunk as soon as he got home that night and we went out the next day to buy some shiplap. I wanted actual shiplap for the valances, not just a facade or fake look a like. So, we went to our local building supplier, where they had exactly what we needed.

Because we already had valances, we stripped them of their fabric to reveal a wood base. So, we started with that since it was the correct size. However, this really isn’t necessary, and may have made things more difficult. We needed something to hold the shiplap together. But, the valance base we already had, was pretty heavy. And, if we had added wood on top of that, it would have been way too heavy and wouldn’t have been stable on the wall. So, what we did was cut out the middle section of the valance, leaving just a few places where the shiplap would attach to the wood to keep it together and stable. It would have been just as easy to make our own though, and probably lighter if we could have chosen different wood to use.

The end result, I don’t think I could possibly love the shiplap valances more. The paint we used was PPG Snowbank, which was the perfect crisp white with a blue undertone. When we redo our floors, we will be repainting all our trim, and I’ll be using Snowbank there as well. The shiplap valances really bring the living space into the 21st century, and makes the room feel light and airy.

This was a fairy easy project, that made a huge impact in the room. To make the ends meet nicely you’ll want to angle the cuts. And, measure twice! In our case, measuring 3 or 4 times would have been good. One of our cuts was ever so slightly off. Honestly though, you can’t even tell. Then we wanted the shiplap to be pristine, so we made sure to fill any imperfections in the wood and nail holes with filler. Then sanded to make the surface as smooth as possible. Then waiting for paint to dry might be the longest step of all!

If you like this, check out Spring Maintenance and How to Stage Your Home!