Shiplap Entry Ceiling

Our sweet home has a beautiful entry. We have a small court yard coming to our front door. Off the entry to the right would be our home office and to the left is a hallway leading to 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The entry then leads into our family / living room and kitchen dining area.

I really love the entry space. It is big enough to welcome people into our home for a short visit. Or if they’re staying awhile there’s plenty of room for guests to take their shoe off or on. There is a small coat closet headed down the hallway so we have somewhere to hang coats for guests. It is one of the most underused closets. Coats are an anomaly because we live in Arizona and aren’t necessary.

The Tray Ceiling

The entry had a very pretty tray ceiling that was a standard option installed by our builders. It was a pleasant surprise. I knew our family living area would have a tray ceiling but I wasn’t aware the entry would have the same pretty ceiling. After we had moved into our home and completed some projects I was ready to make and create a beautiful entry ceiling.

I wanted to add some crown moulding to the tray ceilings but I didn’t want it to be ornate. We love wide flat smooth baseboards. I figured the wide smooth baseboards look amazing I bet they would look equally awesome as crown moulding. The highest part of the ceiling tray area wasn’t really wide so I thought it would look great to add a thinner moulding then the dropped down area. There isn’t a lot of difference but definitely worth the contrast.

Shiplap

The ceiling portion of the tray ceiling was 5 feet x 12 feet. One random day while walking through Home Deport I came across the MDF shiplap. I was instantly in love and was excited to find a place to install it. When it came time to work on the entry ceiling I knew the shiplap on the ceiling would be perfect.

When the shiplap and baseboard were purchased and brought home I lay everything out in the garage to give it a coat of paint before installation.

I did waffle back and forth trying to decide which direction to run the shiplap. At first I was thinking it would look better running it the same direction as the hardwood floors. Monte reminded me running it the other direction would be better because we would have trusses to nail to for each piece which we wouldn’t have running the opposite direction. It was still possible but comes with some definite challenges.

Not only was it the best decision for installation but also the best decision for ascetics. To start Monte located all the ceiling trusses we needed to nail too. He knows the building standards and how far apart trusses should be. When he finds one truss he measures where the next one should be and uses a nail to confirm the truss is there. We do end up with a few holes in our ceiling but that’s not a problem because we are covering them with the shiplap. After all the trusses are located we use a level and pencil to draw a straight line showing where we can nail.

Some of the struggles

Nothing in our house is perfectly square so Monte had to measure along the way if they stopped fitting properly. Because we were going to add crown moulding we had some wiggle room and didn’t need anything to fit perfectly. Not that Monte is sloppy with his work but it’s nice when you don’t have to worry if a piece doesn’t fit exactly right. The installation went so quick and made such a huge difference to the ceiling. It added so much charm to the space.

Installing the crown moulding

After walking around Home Depot and seeing all the options I settled on what would be considered baseboards or moulding for windows and doors. The upper tray has 2 1/2″ and 3 1/2″ baseboard / trim created into a beautiful crown moulding. We started with the piece along the wall then added the piece on the ceiling. It took a little time because we had two steps. When you purchase authentic crown moulding it is in one piece but can be very tricky working with the angles and cutting it properly. This installation was definitely easier.

For the lower portion of the crown moulding I had more space to work with so I chose boards that were a little wider. We used the 3 1/2″ on the ceiling portion and 5 1/2″ for the wood that was on the wall. We did the same thing, installing the pieces around the wall first then the ceiling portion.

Finishing touches

After the shiplap and the crown moulding was installed Monte caulked all the seams and nail holes. Of course he didn’t caulk the seams created by the shiplap. After the paintable caulking is done and dry I gave everything another coat of paint. For a cohesive look I painted it the same color as the baseboards.

Chandelier

The final step to make everything look amazing was finding the perfect light. I had looked and looked and looked trying to find what I wanted. Finding something pretty is not usually the had part. Finding the perfect light for the perfect price is what can be really tricky.

One day on Overstock.com I found a perfect light for a price I was able to accept. I was able to find this light on a pretty great deal for $300. It is so pretty a great size and looks amazing in this space. The perfect finishing touch.

The entry is one of my favorite spaces in the home. It is so welcoming. I love the ceiling, the beam that holds the barn door track and I just love those barn doors. The light was purchased from Overstock.com for $300. The shiplap and crown moulding was $200. The results are definitely worth the investment.