After a year of living in our new home ,I finally got around to giving my daughter’s nursery a much-needed update. When we moved in, we didn’t have the time or energy to paint this room. We had painted a few other rooms in the house and had a ton of cleaning to do before we moved in. By the time it was all said and done, we were too worn out to deal with painting another room! We decided to wait to paint this bedroom until after we’d settled in. That was in June of 2018. It was June of 2019 before it got done. Oops!
Her room was painted a deep tan color and it was so dark and dreary, even during the day. I wanted her room to be light and airy, with a farmhouse feel and simple decor. She already had white furniture and I thought the look of a shiplap bedroom would give her room the farmhouse look i was going for. However, I did not want to spend the time, money, or energy on installing actual shiplap. I had heard of “sharpie shiplap” on Instagram, but I was afraid that it would look too fake. After looking into it more through the hashtag “sharpie shiplap“, I realized that some of the shiplap I thought was actual shiplap was really just sharpie! I also watched this awesome tutorial from @ouridahofarmhouse that was really helpful! My husband liked the idea that if we were to ever move, the future homeowners could simply paint over it if it wasn’t their style. It seemed like the perfect solution!
Taking the First Steps
My first step in giving her nursery the makeover it needed was to get all of the furniture out and everything off of the walls. I painted the entire room white in just one evening. My daughter slept in her pack-n-play in our room that night. With the windows open, the paint fumes had all aired out by the next day.
After painting the walls white, I gathered the supplies I would need to “sharpie shiplap” her entire room. I bought a cheap yard stick, a 4 foot long level with a straight edge, and I ordered Sharpie Paint Pens in Black from Amazon. The paint pens come in a pack of three and I only went through one pen for her entire room! I’ve since started using a second paint pen when I added some “sharpie shiplap” to our master bedroom. They really go a long way!
How to “Sharpie Shiplap”
First, I placed my yard stick vertically against a corner of the wall and, starting at the ceiling, I marked a small mark with pencil every 6 inches all the way down to the floor.
Then, I placed the top straight edge of my 4 ft. level on the first line and pushed the end of the level against the corner of the wall. I carefully drew a line using the sharpie along the top of my level, just as you would draw a line using a ruler.
Next, I went down the wall and drew more lines using the level and the pencil marks. Once I completed a whole row down the wall, I matched my level up to the end of each line and continued drawing. When I got to a window, I simply placed my level across it to continue the line on the other side since it was long enough.
I didn’t think that it would be so easy, but it’s just drawing level lines all around the room! Each line didn’t end up perfect, and there are a couple of places where they may not be exactly 6 inches apart, but overall it looked pretty great and the entire room was “shiplapped” for only $16 (cost of the level and sharpies)!
Deciding on Decor
After all of the “shiplap” was finished, I moved all of the furniture back in and started shopping for decor. I’m not big on going with themed rooms since kids tend to grow out of their likes and dislikes so fast. The white shiplap is very versatile and I can make it go with any color that she wants in her room someday and still make it look great! I knew I needed to add a few girly touches and she loves flowers right now, so I started with that. I found this adorable farmhouse floral crib sheet and based the rest of the decor around it!
I then found this adorable sign in the 75% clearance section at Hobby Lobby. It matches the crib sheet perfectly! The laundry hamper in the corner was another clearance find from Marshall’s and this cute white scalloped book shelf was a steal for only $7 at my local Goodwill!
I used white bins that I had already had from Ikea for her 8 cube organizer. This shelf is so perfect for storage! We even secured a changing table pad to it when she was a newborn. It is the perfect height for a changing table and can grow with her! The lamp was another great Goodwill find for $5 that I used with an existing white lamp shade.
My husband got this cute little letter board from work so it was free to me! I already had the white vase and the lamb’s ear floral came from Hobby Lobby. The white curtains were a set of 4 from Burlington Coat Factory that I found on clearance!
Overall, I am loving how my farmhouse nursery makeover turned out! I am so happy that I learned how to “sharpie shiplap”! It is so simple and easy to do! Comment below what you think of her nursery or with any questions that you may have. I’m happy to help!
Faith and Farmhouse 