5 Easy Peel and Stick Shiplap Designs That Will Impress

First getting its start at sea as a coveted material for building boats, shiplap is a type of wooden plank with step-shaped recesses known as “rabbets” cut out of the edges. When joined, the opposing rabbets of adjacent planks perfectly overlap one another to create a watertight seal with discrete but distinct voids between planks.

As attractive as shiplap may be on walls, ceilings, and other surfaces, making shiplap planks of your own requires ripping rabbets into the top and bottom edges of wood with a saw to create Z-shaped planks.

With peel and stick reclaimed wood, you can mimic the look of shiplap in any interior of the home in a fraction of the time — no pricey tools or woodworking chops required. For inspiration, check out these peel and stick shiplap designs that successfully simulate shiplap.

No lumberjacks were harmed in the making of this peel and stick shiplap trailer wall with a classic log-cabin quality.The warm hue of the horizontally-mounted Golden Oak reclaimed wood planks, coupled with the contrasting vertical silhouette of the checkered room divider, cabinet pulls, and barn door gives the seams between the stick on shiplap planks a more pronounced appearance reminiscent of the gorgeous gaps in a true shiplap wall comprising rabbeted planks.

To heighten the shiplap effect, use pennies, nickels, or tile spacers to add in a millimeter or more of space between individual rows of reclaimed wood planks during installation.

While shiplap boards are traditionally mounted horizontally, this peel and stick shiplap ceiling beautifully bucks that trend. The peel and stick reclaimed wood planks with a Minimalist Fir patina were mounted diagonally around the focal point of the geometric pendant light to draw attention to the seams between the planks and evoke the illusion of true shiplap.

The dramatic offset square pattern on the pale taupe peel and stick shiplap ceiling created by the diagonal plank formation is bound to garner the attention and admiration of every guest who enters your abode.

Color is as important as plank installation when your aim is to emulate true shiplap cladding. Peel and stick wood walls in white or light hues make the most ideal doppelgangers for shiplap because their pale patina best emphasizes and emboldens the voids between planks that are synonymous with shiplap.

The whimsical white complexion of this Hamptons stick on shiplap plays up the recesses between planks while lending easygoing elegance to the southwestern themed room.

A distressed finish is a friend to any interior starved for style, but especially so on peel and stick wood walls. The soft white, salmon, and slate tones spotted on this Reclaimed Weathered Wood White hallway wall underscore the voids between the planks and makes the peel and stick shiplap paneling look indistinguishable from true shiplap. The mood-lifting portrait of chirruping birds mounted on top of the paneling compliments the whitewashed wood wall with a rustic charm that typifies classic shiplap designs.

Charcoal peel and stick shiplap adds dramatic flair to master bedroom wall

Despite the praise heaped on white or light shiplap, black is by no means a verboten color option for a shiplap wall. That said, mounting black reclaimed wood planks in a conventional horizontal orientation will negate the voids between the planks, creating a more seamless look.

Your best option for creating peel and stick shiplap paneling with the enigmatic ebony hue is to mount stick on shiplap in an unconventional orientation that catches the light entering the room so that the seams between planks are accentuated rather than hidden.

To create this Charcoal herringbone bedroom wall, the peel and stick shiplap boards were mounted flush but at an angle to better reflect the light and emphasize the seams between planks. Highlight the voids further by emboldening the edges of adjacent planks with a Sharpie marker, and you’ll be in shiplap heaven before bedtime.

Snag a custom Stikwood sample pack with 5 samples of the reclaimed wood products above to recreate stunning stick on shiplap designs in any room of your home.