I wanted to create a fun element in each of my kids’ rooms. For Little Buddy I shiplapped the ceiling and painted it a charcoal color. Oh how I love the dramatic impact it has in his room.

Supplies

• MDF 8″ shiplap
• Chalkline
• Nail Gun
• Miter Saw
• Jig Saw
• Ladder
• Crawford’s Spackling putty
• Sandpaper -150 Grit
• Graco Paint Sprayer
• Graco Extension tip
• Paint – Peppercorn by Sherwin Williams in eggshell

How to Install

First, find trusses or floor joists in your ceiling. You will need to nail your shiplap into wood so it will hold.

Once we found the trusses we marked them with nails on each side and then pulled a chalk line across to mark them.

Now to install the shiplap. I would say this is a 2 person job. You want your pieces of shiplap to be as long as possible because the less seams you have to fill the better. We used our Ryobi nail gun to secure the shiplap to the ceiling.

Here is how it looks after the shiplap was all installed on the ceiling. It took us about 4 hours to hang all the shiplap. To cut around the lights and vents we used a jigsaw.

After hanging the shiplap I filled in all the nail holes and seams with Crawford’s spackling paste. Once the paste dried I sanded everything down until it was nice and smooth.

I use a paint sprayer so overspray gets on EVERYTHING! Make sure you tape off anything and everything you don’t want paint to get on.

Let the painting begin! My MDF was already primed so I went straight to the paint. I am using a Graco Magnum x-7 to spray my ceilings and an extension nozzle so I can’t spray it from the ground.

I did 2 coats going against the shiplap, this helps to make sure all the cracks in the shiplap are covered. And then I did 2 coats going with the lines in the shiplap. I used about 2 gallons of paint for this project.

The shiplap is done!! Next up: adding crown molding and then to decorate!!