Shiplap is expensive, tedious, time-consuming… right? Wrong!! What if I told you that you can get the look of shiplap for under $5 and just a couple of hours of work. No power tools needed. Crazy right? All you need is something straight, a level, and a SHARPIE! (or two) to make EASY faux shiplap – for free!

Holding a plank of flooring on wall, I am using it to measure the width between my shiplap lines.

Now I didn’t come up with this and honestly I don’t remember where I saw it first at this point, but it’s such a great idea. I don’t know if I would suggest this as a permanent solution or in a large area, but in our entry way as a quick fix it was just what we needed. Things I read online said the paint-pen sharpies are the best for this.. but I was doing it on the cheap (cough free) and using what I had which was a mismash of 3 different kinds haha. Still worked! I don’t think it’s as water resistant as the paint-pen style as those are oil based but hey, you win some you lose some.

Before: Plain jane. Walls are actually plywood on half because our house is weird and not all drywall?? Shoe cabinet is this one from ikea.

Before of entrance way area is messy, overcrowded, and plain wall.

As you can see, really not the most welcoming space! So we cleared it out, found a level and some sharpies and got to work. I used a piece of flooring we had laying around (why do I have so much junk laying around??) for spacing.

After:

after of makeover: shiplap is on walls, clean lines. Looks modern.
After from more of a distance. Faux shiplap on walls - easy DIY under $20

Did you catch I also spray painted the hardware 😉 Just to mix things up a bit!

Is faux shiplap something you would do to spruce up a space? Have you done it? Let me know below!