live.love.laugh to keep your sanity: Thank You Joanna Gaines for bringing us Beautiful Shiplap!!

And now for the afters.. Shiplap everywhere.. Well maybe not everywhere, but on the majority of the first floor. If it was up to me, I would put the beautiful, crisp, clean, shiplap on every wall, nook and cranny. IT.IS.THAT.BEAUTIFUL. Who would have thought? Well my DIY Dream Maker Dad and Doubting Hubby questioned my sanity but after everything was said and done- they truly trusted the decision.. I mean who doubts a Joanna Gaines wanna-be? So now the process and a little afters. I hope you enjoy.

To save a little money we took down our old oak crown molding and baseboards- I sanded, primed and painted them white. SO much nicer.

Prepping Poplar Wood for our window and door casings. Excuse the mess behind the wood, but I was trying to get stuff ready for a football banquet for our son, plus finish some scrapbooking stuff, oh and some miscellaneous craft/home decor projects. Did I mention I have a little ADD when it comes to home projects?

Picture of our base and door frames. Get ready for a whole lotta puddy-ing, and then some white painting. IT IS WORTH IT. Keep in mind the floor, because that will be changing too.

Faux planking with little wood spacers my DIY Dream Maker Dad made. Nickels would work perfect too, but he likes to save his change so there was no way he would part with his coins.

New wall color that I love.. It allows us t by some time before we start on phase 2 of our kitchen remodel.. The gray wall color, in my opinion, doesn't make the orange-y/gold cabinets look too bad. The red wall color brought out the wrong color.

Take a look at the difference in the wood crown now painted a beautiful clean white.

Side by Side comparison of the white vs oak

Adding the crown-molding back up to where it belongs. Its the finishing accessory to a room, like putting on a beautiful necklace to a trendy outfit.

Funny how I forgot to mention that the family room, hallways and bathrooms all were updated with paint on the first floor. Remember that Decorating ADD I mentioned earlier, well I can't just do one thing/room etc.

Took the planking into the family room to carry the decor through the rest of our house.

This planking will make a clean backdrop for our television. Now, I'm not a big fan of a TV on the mantel, but my Handsome Hubby needs to have some say in the decor of our home. It's called meeting half-way and certainly makes a marriage go smoother.

I get asked the questions: was this difficult, would I do this again and was it worth it? Well, it depends on who your ask. If you ask me, Yes/Yes/Yes. It looks so beautiful and clean. I feel it makes my house look "clean" even when its in disarray. You know the disarray I am talking about- clutter, sports equipment, school papers, craft projects, football paperwork plays, items that need to be put away etc. No, wait, thats just me- You all have beautifully, clean homes??? I think its the brightness of the white wood that makes the "junk" look not so bad. Oh, and do you remember the orangey/honey colored woodwork and cabinets? Well, with the white woodwork, shiplap and new paint I don't mind it as much. Those cabinets and kitchen are on the dream list to re-do but we are saving for this project. If you ask my DDM Dad, the answer is maybe. If you don't mind pulling your hair out, and sanding your the skin off of your fingers

The one thought on the shiplap, and let me preface this by saying- this is not true shiplap. That would be expensive for this DIY loving girl. But, my shiplap is faux. It is actually a plywood sheet ripped down to 5 1/2 inch planks. The price of plywood varies but for us here at my favorite DIY Box Store- HomeDepot it ran $21 a sheet. #HomeDepot is my jam!

and for the finished look in our kitchen.. Picture Overload.. And to finish accessorizing..

Thanks for sticking with me.. Let me know if you have questions.. Love Your Guts! Lori