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Shiplap Bathroom Shower Renovation

 shipInside: Our newly renovated shiplap bathroom shower wall.

Today I’m giving a little tour of a very small guest bathroom we’ve renovated. The house has three bathrooms in it – this one was the worst and therefore the first one to tackle. It was REALLY gross! Since the bathroom is only used by guests and the kids we incorporated some really fun elements to give it a gorgeously lighthearted vibe.

 

shiplap bathroomShiplap in a shower

Here’s what it looked like before we started – yikes!

bathroom renovation before

And now it’s a fun loving happy spot!

Tile bathroom renovation

Let’s talk about that tile! We used Villa Heirloom Arabesque Porcelain Tile in Willow on the wall of the bathroom from Floor & Decor. It is so pretty. We laid the tile just on the back wall as a feature focus for the small bathroom and took it about 80% up the wall. We did this same concept with our kitchen backsplash too. I love the look of the edge profile on this specific tile and laying it like this really allows that edging to shine. The willow color is a muted mint green which we grouted in grey to tie in with the floor – the grout keeps it looking very old world and not at all too frilly for space. It’s my favorite tile wall that ever was!

shiplap bathroom wall

Shiplap shower

Bathroom renovation floorOn the floor, we used large planks of grey porcelain tile. I originally wanted to lay concrete in the bathroom. But… after the huge job that tackling our diy concrete countertops was, we decided to get a similar look in a much easier way with this tile.

Shiplap shower wall

The strap shelf brackets are from Rejuvenation, you’ll soon see them pop up in our kitchen too. The plank shelf mimics the pine plank flooring from throughout the house and ties the bathroom in as you look in from the hallway.

DIY Shiplap wall

Let’s chat for a minute about shiplap in the bathroom

Specifically a shiplap bathroom wall! We went for it and I adore how it looks in the space. It was definitely the right decision for this bathroom, although I should preface there was a lot of thought and research put into it. We considered just doing subway tile, but I really wanted the look of the wood to contrast the gorgeousness of the arabesque tile wall. Plus I wanted to extend that shower wall all the way across the bathroom to make it seem larger. Tiling all that space would have been overkill.

Now I should say the only reason we were able to do this feature in this shiplap bathroom wall is that the shower is rarely used. Rarely = almost never. The kids take baths (no shower, no humidity) and we actually have another guest bathroom for overnight guests. This bathroom is more for friends who stop by (and friends stopping by and shower are just weird!). We would not have done this in our master bath that has a shower running most days, but in this bathroom, we opted to try it out.

 

DIY shiplap shower wall

How to install shiplap in the bathroom shower

There wasn’t much helpful advice I could find online for doing this – because honestly, it’s a little nutty. So we had our contractor help us figure out how to make it work in the best. And a way that would protect our house and investment along the way. Here are a few tips for putting shiplap wood in a shower, if you dare.

  1. First, we started with a deep coat of red guard on top of the drywall which will protect the wall underneath in the chance the wood eventually molds.
  2. Then we laid the wood being sure to caulk every nook and cranny possible.
  3. We used exterior grade paint which should protect the shiplap from possible splashes and direct water contact – think about the paint the exterior of a house gets on top of the wood siding.

Even with all these precautions, there is a chance the years from now we will need to replace the shiplap. I totally understand that, but the look was just too pretty to pass up for today.

process

More home renovation projects

I love how this fun shiplap bathroom shower wall turned out, we are enjoying all these home renovations so much! Here are a few more of our favorites:

Shiplap wall accent

The Alape Bucket Sink is from Rejuvenation. Isn’t is so much fun!?! I love the cheeky and fun play on a vintage washroom it gives.

One last minute detail I love is that we decided to not put sheetrock over the medicine cabinet hole in the wall. Instead, we tied it into the other shiplap bathroom walls and it’s a cute spot for storing toothbrushes and little bathroom details (also although it wasn’t up for these photos, I just bought this cute towel hook to go in the box as well).

Grateful for the awesome companies like Floor & Decor that have partnered with us on our home remodel. More reveals coming soon! xoxo

(Photography ©A Subtle Revelry by Erin Holland).

9 Comments

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  1. Where is the vintage medicine cabinet from? We are putting in the alape sink too and we love the look of the medicine cabinet with it.

  2. Hi Susan,
    How has your Alape sink held up? Is it pretty sturdy? I really want to put one in our main bathroom, but not sure if it’s a good choice for a bathroom that gets used daily.

    • Daya, Hi. It’s been almost a year and we still love it! I was nervous too about the wall hang option – but my kids use it as their main sink + it’s our guest bathroom and the sink hasn’t budged even a centimeter. We did have it professionally installed, so if you’re nervous I’d go that route. But I’m so happy we chose it!

  3. I was wondering what height you hun your sink at? Because of the high back i am afraid the mirror will be very high up.

    • HI. The sink is hung about 33 inches high (the top of the basin). The mirror is tall for sure, but I like how it looks in the space. Hope that helps!

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