The Easiest Shiplap Ceiling Ever

Give your ceilings a makeover with no drywall work, no painting and virtually no mess using WOODHAVEN Planks and the Easy Up track clip system.

Do you have ugly ceilings? Are you overwhelmed with the thought of having to drywall and paint a ceiling? Do you wish you could update the look of your popcorn ceiling without scraping it off? Then this post is for you!

The main room in our downstairs had a plethora of ceiling issues. The texture is different in different areas of the room and we also have a few holes in the drywall from when we had to cut through to access wiring for projects upstairs. We have lived with it that way for several years now mostly because the thought of taking down an entire 14’x25′ room’s drywall ceiling was overwhelming. We hate drywall work! It is dusty and tedious and hard to get perfect!

A few months ago I happened to stumble across the Armstrong Ceilings website and after looking at their surface mount products, I realized this was the perfect solution for our problem! So I contacted the company to see if they wanted to partner with me here on the blog and I’m so glad they said yes. This is a game-changing product that really made our lives so much easier that I can’t wait to tell you all about it and show you our amazing new ceiling.

Let’s start with some BEFORE photos:

This is the part of the room that has the least amount of ceiling texture. The rest of the room has really heavy texture that is super dated.

Here’s a close up that shows some of the difference in texture:

Now times that by the entire 14×25 foot room and that’s a whole lotta ugly.

So how exactly does this ceiling system work? Let me show you!

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a full tutorial, it’s just meant to give an overview of the process so you can decide if this is something you want to use in your home. Please visit the manufacturer’s website for detailed installation instructions.

Materials Needed

• WOODHAVEN Ceiling Planks
• Easy Up Surface Mount Ceiling Tracks and Clips
• Drill
• Screws
• Chop Saw or Compound Miter Saw
• Chalk Line

WOODHAVEN planks come in several different styles and colors. We chose the White painted shiplap style. Here are the other options:

Instructions

Step 1: If you are installing your ceiling directly over drywall, mark the ceiling joists with chalk lines. 

Step 2: If your ceiling is level, use the chalk lines as a guide and screw the Easy Up Ceiling Tracks into the joists. If your ceiling is unfinished, screw the Easy Up tracks directly into the joists. Check that all of the tracks are level and add shims as needed. This step is important, so don’t skip it!

Step 3: Screw the first row of planks into place, leaving a small expansion gap along the wall on all four sides of the room. This gap and the screw heads will be covered at the end by a piece of crown molding. 

Step 4: This is where the magic happens. The rest of the ceiling planks are installed using the Easy Up clips. Tap a board in place so the tongue-and-groove parts meet up snugly with the board before it, then slide a clip onto the plank where the tracks intersect and IT IS INSTALLED. No nail guns, no screws… just slide that genius little clip on and you are done. The tongue of the new plank will slide into the groove of the receiving plank, hiding the Easy Up clip.

Step 5: Cut the last row down to fit in place and screw it to the Easy Up track with a
single screw. Make sure you place your screw close enough to the edge so that your crown molding will cover it.

Step 6: Add crown molding to finish off the edges of your ceiling. If your leveling prep work was pretty accurate, you may not even need to caulk. Our ceiling was really uneven, and even though we did our best to level it, we still had a few wonky places. A bit of caulk to fill in the gaps between the ceiling and the crown and no one will ever know.

Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for… the big reveal!

Can you even?! What once was the ugliest ceiling is now the crowning jewel of the room. I can’t believe how much it elevates the entire space. It feels completely different and I am absolutely blown away by the change. 

What once was a dated and neglected basement room is now a bright and polished space that’s full of charm. Do I want to shiplap every ceiling in our house now? Yes, yes I do!

Why Should I Choose WOODHAVEN Planks and the Easy Up track clip system?

1. It’s easy to install. All you need is a drill and a saw. The Easy Up clips do the hard work for you! If you choose traditional shiplap material, you’ll need to use a pneumatic nail gun to nail every single board into place.
2. It’s already painted. If you’ve ever tried to paint a ceiling before, you know how awful it is. Paint falls down in your face, your arms hurt from holding things up and you’ll most likely end up with a huge crick in your neck. That’s why it’s so amazing that this product comes pre-painted without even so much as a nail hole to fill. Once it’s up, it’s done. Can I get a hallelujah!!!
3. It’s not messy. The room we installed this ceiling in is my home office and studio space. I could not afford to have the room out of commission for even a few days. I also have kiiiiind of a lot of stuff in here and moving it all out would have been impossible. We were able to work around the furniture and massive amounts of craft supplies to install the ceiling over the course of a few nights and a Saturday with only a tiny bit of chalk dust and a bit of sawdust from cutting. We could not have done that if we had drywalled.
4. It fixes uneven ceilings. Because you shim the tracks, once the planks are installed on top, your ceiling will look level no matter what’s hiding underneath. One great perk is that it doesn’t lower the ceiling as much as a traditional drop ceiling. Ours only ended up being about an inch lower.

Where Can I Buy These Products?

The WOODHAVEN planks and Easy Up track systems are available nationwide. You can search for a retailer near you on the Armstrong Ceilings website. I will warn you that the convenience comes at a bit of a cost, although any shiplap ceiling is going to be more expensive than drywall. We felt the price was well worth the benefits, especially because if we had done drywall we would have hired it out (more $$) and we don’t want contractors coming in and out of our home right now for health reasons, not to mention the fact that everyone is booked out for months.

Watch this video to see the whole installation process!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer. And be sure to check back in a week or two for the big reveal of the entire craft room. It’s going to be amazing!

This post was made possible by my partners at Armstrong Ceilings. All opinions are my own.