Transforming an awkward inside wall window to stylish shiplap Feature

In our home, our living room had a square 5 ft by 5ft open window that opened the living room to the foyer. This created a couple problems for us: 

1. Having the couch up against this wall made it a big safety concern with kids- it would be super easy to fall through it! So our temporary fix was putting up a white metal baby gate to keep our kids safe. Not exactly stylish but peace of mind is priceless! 

2. It  made our living room look very dated

3. Made putting up artwork super difficult

Our solution: 

We put shiplap on either side of the wall! The large shiplap planks cover the opening beautifully and make the living room look stylish and cozy. 

We put shiplap up against the wall on facing the foyer, basically putting shiplap up against shiplap using wood glue in the "window". We used a nail gun to put up the shiplap on the wall facing into the living room . The only prep the wall required was removing the mouldings around the "window". This created a great place to put up artwork facing into our entry foyer. I’m beyond thrilled that this relatively simple fix has transformed our living room. So worth it! 

The materials we used: 

• 12 ft MDF Shiplap planks (6 3/4"width)

• Wood glue- PL 400 

• Nail gun with brad nails 

• Benjamin Moore White Dove Paint- Satin finish 

• Paint rollers and 1.5” trim paint brush 

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

Our living room feels so cozy and updated. Now, I'm on the hunt for some art work to place above the couch. The intention for this post was to share our idea, not the actual install of the shiplap process. More videos and tutorials to come as I get better at blogging. Thanks for your patience and for joining me in this journey.