SHIPLAP IN MASTER BATH

Changing out big plate glass mirrors in bathrooms is such an easy upgrade . . . at least it used to be before they started using adhesive for hanging the mirror instead of the mirror clips that screw into the wall.   Nonetheless - I knew I wanted to tackle this project.  We planned to put up shiplap and individual mirrors on our bathroom wall.

The original large mirror looked OK and was functional, but I thought it looked way too ordinary.  Also, you can see in the BEFORE photo that it had to be installed weirdly off-center because of the light switches on the left side.  The oval mirrors are the ideal shape.  We were able to center the mirrors over the sinks and still allow the light switches to remain in their original place.

BEFORE & AFTER...

  

Removing a mirror applied with adhesive can be difficult and will likely damage your walls.   Knowing this - I knew I needed a creative solution for our master bathroom to cover the damaged walls that would be exposed.  I wasn't confident we could repair the drywall ourselves and make it look nice.  Another option would be to pay a professional to do the drywall repairs.  It seemed silly of us to spend the money when we could do something ourselves and end up with a much more interesting finished product.

That's where the shiplap came into play; it would cover up the damaged walls and be a neat feature.  We could apply shiplap in just the small space behind the mirrors; up to the top of the door trim on the same wall, and between the doorframe and the opposite wall.  Going over the whole wall on that side of the bathroom would have looked pretty cool, but it would have been a much bigger project.  I figured a smaller project was a good idea, and the material costs would be less.

To remove the mirror, we covered the whole mirror with heavy duty packing tape.  First, we tried to pry it off the wall, but we realized quickly that it wasn't going to come off that easy.  It was attached to the wall with some hard core mirror adhesive.  So, we used a hammer to first break the mirror and ripped the broken pieces off the wall.  We were careful to use work gloves and wear goggles during this process.  Breaking up the mirror and getting it into trash cans so it could be disposed of was a lot of work.  We got special heavy duty trash bags for this.  I put notes on the trash cans on trash-day ("CAUTION - BROKEN GLASS!") so no one would get injured emptying the cans into the garbage truck.

The shiplap is just plywood ripped down into strips (at Lowe's where we purchased the plywood).  This limited the amount of cutting we had to do at home.  It's not the super cheap plywood, but the better quality stuff.  We used 1/2 inch.  Prior to installing them - I primed and painted them (2 coats of primer and one coat of paint), and then painted the last coat after the pieces were on the wall.  I left the last coat to complete after installation as we needed to fill the finishing nail holes and paint them after this step anyway.  

Our friend who helped us do the installation had a small portable table saw to cut the strips to size.  (Thanks Kent for your assistance on this project!)  He also provided the nail gun we used to adhere the shiplap pieces to the wall.  Liquid nails was applied to each piece before it was nailed to the wall.  Quarters were used for spacers between the boards.  We started with the bottom board (right along the countertop).  The boards were kind of warped and you can see how the spacing between the boards is a little inconsistent.  We tried to make adjustments for this as we applied the boards (literally hanging on them in the middle while the other person nailed them in), but you can still see differences in the spacing. I convinced myself it adds to the character and makes it look more authentic.  It sounds like a cop-out, but I'm really OK with it.  You might be able to see this in the photo below if you look closely.

Did you know they make white wood filler?  I didn't realize that until this project.  This is definitely a plus over the typical gold-color wood filler when you are finishing a project with white paint!

Link to white wood filler at Ace Hardware here

Since we were covering over existing drywall - the depth of the outlets was an issue.  They sell these blue plastic outlet extenders at hardware stores.  So, when you add the layer of shiplap, the box for the outlet provides for the extension and the outlet itself can now be flush with the shiplap.  The vanity lights had a similar issue.  The screws used previously were going to be too short after the shiplap was added, so we had to locate longer ones to account for the extra 1/2" depth from the shiplap.

Link to outlet extenders at Lowe's here

The tilt mirrors are ideal for my husband and I because of the difference in our heights.  I'm average height but he is very tall.  This enables us to hang the mirrors above our respective sinks at the same height, but we can tilt them to accommodate our needs.  Otherwise, with typical wall-mounted mirrors, if we hung them at the same height - my mirror would be too high and his would be too low.  The mirrors were purchased from Lowe's online.

Link to mirror at Lowe's here

We did not originally put the shiplap in the small space between the side of the vanity cabinet and the doorway.  Once we were done, this space made our project look unfinished.  So, we were tasked with cutting four more small pieces of shiplap.  It took a little time to make a custom cut piece to go around the counter top, but the rest was fairly easy to do.  In the end it was totally worth the extra time and effort, and I'm surprised at what a big difference this makes.

I also like how the top of the door trim continues on top of the ship-lapped section of wall.  It makes it look like the shiplap was always there, and it makes for an obvious stopping point for the top of this wall treatment.

We re-used the vanity light fixtures.  The towel loops were also re-used and we simply had to relocate one of them.   Incidentally - the mirrors we purchased ended up being from the same line as the existing towel loops.  You can see the hardware is identical - not a part of the original plan, but I'm glad it worked out this way since these elements are so close together.  

SUPPLIES
Heavy Duty Packing Tape (to cover mirror before removed)
2 Sheets Plywood cut into strips (7")
Roll of Quarters for spacing
Outlet Extenders
Mirrors (2)
Nails for Nail Gun
Liquid Nails Adhesive
White Primer
White Paint (1 quart)
1x2 for trim on top of shiplap
White Calk

Overall, we are happy with how this project worked out.  It's definite improvement over the plate glass mirrors, and I think we did a good job of making it look like this feature was always intended to be there.  This latest update fits very well with the cottage style of the home.

For more beach cottage posts see my Beach Cottage page.