35 Shiplap Half Wall Ideas to Add Character to Any Room in the House

If you want to add subtle character and texture to plain walls, installing a simple shiplap half wall on the lower portion of the wall is an easy way to refresh your living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, or any other room in the house.

You can use traditional horizontal shiplap or more modern vertical shiplap depending on the layout of your space and your preferences. Paint your shiplap half wall white, black, or the color of your room for a cohesive feel. Decorate around and above it with shelving, lighting, wallpaper, and wall decor.

From farmhouse to traditional and modern styles, check out these shiplap half walls in a range of rooms and spaces for inspiration.

Warm Up the Sunroom

This sunroom living room from Chango & Co. has double-height windows, with a two-thirds shiplap wall that wraps around the room at the height of the taller bottom windows that creates balance in the black-and-white space.

Tip

While the term "half wall" implies that you cover exactly half of the wall with shiplap, feel free to adjust the ratio depending on your ceiling height or the look you want to create. Run shiplap as little as one-third or as much as two-thirds or three-quarters of the way up the wall to suit your space and style.

Paint It Dark Gray

Paint a shiplap half wall in the same color as the plain wall above to create a cohesive feel with added texture. Becca Interiors painted this farmhouse bathroom in a dark shade of gray that feels cozy and enveloping while allowing the antique-style sink to take center stage.

Anchor the Headboard

Anchor a shorter headboard by installing a shiplap half or two-thirds wall. This midcentury modern Palm Springs bedroom from Michelle Boudreau Design has a two-thirds vertical shiplap wall behind the bed that mimics the painted white ceiling boards. The wall panels are discreet while making the room feel cozier by bringing down the high ceilings around the bed.

Create a Kitchen Backsplash

Paint your shiplap half wall black for a moody feel. This space from deVOL Kitchens includes a peg rail and open shelf attached near the top for displaying items that helps to define the shiplap half wall. The black shiplap contrasts with white walls, countertops, and a vintage-style range for a high-contrast effect.

Structure the Hallway

Structure a blank hallway with a shiplap half wall. This modern farmhouse design from Chango & Co. includes horizontal black shiplap panels on the lower half of bright white walls to help make the narrow space feel wider. The shiplap blurs the line between the dark wood flooring and adds contrast with the white walls. Black doors tie it all together, and red accents add a pop of energizing color.

Tip

Vertical shiplap will draw the eye upward to make a smaller space feel taller and airier, while horizontal shiplap can help make a narrow space feel wider.

Hang a Drying Rod Above It

A shiplap half wall can make a small utility room feel cozier and more finished. This laundry room from Ashley Montgomery Design includes a shiplap half wall along two walls that softens the space and makes it feel more like any other room in the house. A simple drying rod hung a few inches above creates a place to hang up clothes or hang wildflowers up to dry.

Add Coastal Notes

Create a sophisticated coastal feel with deep blue shiplap wainscoting paired with illustrated wallpaper that subtly evokes ocean waves, like this sleek beach house powder room from Chango & Co.

Warm Up the Powder Room

Mix a shiplap half wall with whimsical wallpaper to energize a modern farmhouse powder room. Kate Marker Interiors paired warm and cool tones in the space with soft gray painted shiplap, black-and-white illustrated wallpaper in a woodland pattern, a marble-and-wood sink, and a gold mirror.

Define Zones

In the kids' area of this finished modern farmhouse basement family room from Chango & Co., a shiplap halfwall helps to subtly define the space from the rest of the room using texture rather than color. The white shiplap makes a pint-sized Dutch door to a pint-sized play space feel taller while blending in with the black-and-white decor.

Paint It Blue

Paint your shiplap half wall in a different color than the walls for a high-constrast look. This basement home office and lounge space from Michelle Berwick Design has blue shiplap wainscoting that gives definition to the space on either side of a plain white door.

Structure a Window Seat

Use a shiplap half wall to structure a window seat, like this cozy bedroom from Ashley Montgomery Design. The half wall continues around the periphery of the room for an integrated feel.

Make the Dining Room Cozier

Make a formal dining room feel cozier with a shiplap half wall. Michelle Berwick Design ran taupe shiplap wall panels around the minimal white-walled room that functions like wainscoting in the modern farmhouse room decorated with simple furnishings, oversized lighting, and neutral tones.

Create Cohesion

Use a shiplap half wall to create a cohesive feel in an open-plan space. This combination kitchen and living room from Chango & Co. has a shiplap half wall that is painted a few shades darker than the white walls, matching built-in cabinets and the base of the kitchen island for a seamless feel.

Define a Mudroom

While many interior designers choose to run the same wainscoting throughout adjoining spaces, you can mix it up to define one space from the other. This foyer and adjacent mudroom from Becca Interiors each have wainscoting in different styles and colors. The sage green mudroom has a shiplap half wall that helps define the space and create a separate identity from the entryway with its white painted wall paneling and trim.

Match With Window Trim

A pale beige shiplap wall painted the same color as the window trim and interior wood shutters creates a cohesive feel in this small powder room from Becca Interiors. The neutral background allows a showstopping heavily veined round marble sink basin to take center stage.

Paint It Olive Green

Paint your shiplap half wall in a dark earthy color to add warmth to a small powder room. Bria Hammel Interiors paired an olive green shiplap wall with blue-and-white patterned wallpaper, a classic French gilded mirror, and vintage-style plumbing fixtures to add character to the compact space.

Clad the Stairway

Shiplap half walls can make a closed staircase feel more polished and pleasant to use, like this white shiplap half wall that follows the shape of the staircase from Chango & Co. A stair runner, good lighting, and coastal decor make the space feel as well decorated as the rest of the house.

Cozy Up the Bedroom

A shiplap half wall painted in an earthy green complements moody floral wallpaper in this cozy bedroom from Ashley Montgomery Design.

Integrate the Windows

Wrap your shiplap half wall around existing features like windows for a custom feel. This warm and homey farmhouse bathroom from Becca Interiors is wrapped in a shiplap half wall painted the same color as the upper walls. The shiplap wraps around the room, making the bathtub feel cozier, the window feel integrated, and creates a backsplash for the double vanity.

Pair With Grasscloth

Pair a white shiplap half wall with grasscloth on the upper half of the wall to add texture to a formal dining room. Kate Marker Interiors chose a deep blue to provide contrast in this modern coastal space while complementing the blue-and-white palette, wavy patterned curtains, and natural wood and woven furniture and accents.

Create a Backsplash

A shiplap half wall can double as a backsplash in a bathroom or powder room. This traditional bathroom from Ashley Montgomery Design has a yellow shiplap half wall that is painted in the same color as the crown molding. Yellow shower tile complements the painted shiplap and striped wallpaper on the wall above adds additional pattern and color while mimicking the shape of the wood paneling.

Home Bar Half Wall

Combine full walls of shiplap with half walls to adapt your design to the layout of your room. In this large basement family room and play room from Chango & Co., full shiplap walls make a home bar niche feel defined. A half wall on the right wall extends out into the living room area to tie the spaces together in a seamless way.

Balance Whimsical Wallpaper

Tone down whimsical wallpaper with a plain white shiplap half wall. This powder room from Chango & Co. has starry night wallpaper with flecks of gold that is set off by crisp white wainscoting for a balanced feel.

Mix Vertical and Horizontal

Add texture to all-white walls by complementing horizontal shiplap panels with a vertical shiplap half wall. This will add dimension to a neutral space that will make it feel cozier, like this reading nook from Emily Henderson Design that is decorated with two-directional shiplap separated by wood trim.

Integrate a Built-In Niche

Make a hybrid space like a small mudroom laundry room feel cohesive with a shiplap half wall. This small combo space from Jessica Nelson Design includes a shiplap half wall painted in a soft shade of gray that wraps in and around a built-in niche to make the irregular angles of the multifunctional space feel whole.

Decorate With Gold Accents

A shiplap half wall anchors the bed in this neutral room from House 9 Interiors. Gold-toned accents like a wall sconce, light switch, and bedside dresser knobs add a bit of light and bling to the quiet space.

Peekaboo Half Wall

Simple white shiplap panels add a finished look to this peekaboo half wall with open built-in shelving between the dining and living spaces of this home from Leanne Ford Interiors.

Work the Angles

Use a shiplap half wall to rationalize the angles of an irregularly shaped room, like this spacious primary bathroom from House 9 Interiors.

Pair With Dark Wallpaper

Kate Marker Interiors kept dark floral wallpaper from overwhelming a compact powder room with a white shiplap wall. The half wall anchors a pale wood and stone vanity and helps to balance dark and white tones throughout the space.

Cover the Under Stairs Wall

Create a cozy niche with a shiplap half wall that follows the angle of the staircase, like this space from House 9 Interiors. The wide vertical boards complement the lines of the staircase railing.

Integrate High Windows

Use shiplap paneling to help make high windows feel more integrated by running it more than halfway up the wall and painting it in a soothing color like this navy bathtub corner from Emily Henderson Design.

Pair With Striped Wallpaper

Pair wide white horizontal shiplap boards on the lower half of a bathroom wall and top with graphic black-and-white-striped wallpaper for a playful feel, like this modern farmhouse bathroom from Chango & Co. The round mirror above the sink is hung so that it straddles both the wallpaper and the shiplap, creating a visual bridge between both finishes.

Natural Shiplap Half Wall

Try a twist on traditional shiplap with grooved natural wood panels, like this wall-to-wall headboard from Malcolm Simmons for Emily Henderson Design. Create a slight bump-out to create a ledge above the bed for displaying art or design objects. A small brass railing will ensure that nothing falls on your head while you sleep.

Add Shiplap on Top of Walls

Add a layer of shiplap boards over existing walls for a decorative look. In this long and somewhat narrow bathroom from Ashley Montgomery Design, partial vertical shiplap walls add coziness to textured walls. A horizontal board running across the top adds a finished look that delineates the finishes.

Double It Up

Split your wall into upper and lower halves and stagger one shiplap wall on top of the other to create a twist on the standard shiplap half wall. Emily Henderson Design painted both halves of the wall in the same deep shade of green in this basement family room, but staggered the placement of the boards ever so slightly to give it an intentionally off-kilter look.

Read the original article on The Spruce.