You guys, I adore the show Fixer Upper on HGTV. A. Dore. It.
Don't even get me started on how I can spend a Sunday afternoon vegging out in front of the tv watching old episodes on Netflix. Start the day off in my jammies and next thing you know it's dinnertime and I still haven't taken a shower.
Day gone.
OK, I'm 4 sentences into this post and I just lied to you.
I'm about to make blog suicide here.
Here it comes . . .
Shiplap
I just can't do it. Not in my house. Not in my lifetime.
I know, I know. It's all the rage on their Fixer Upper program. Shiplap on walls, shiplap on fireplaces, shiplap on ceilings.
Here a shiplap, there a shiplap, everywhere a shiplap lap.
But seriously, you know what I see when I look at shiplap?
Paneling from the 1970's.
And here's the thing. I lived in the 70's. I saw people go paneling crazy in their houses.
No room was off limits and there were entire homes covered head to toe in the stuff. Head. To. Toe.
Wood tone paneling, faux barnwood paneling, cheap laminated paneling. Even avocado colored paneling.
Avocado colored wood???
And then, sometime in the 80's, everyone got tired of paneling. Really really tired of it.
And then had to figure out how to get rid of it.
Huge undertaking. HUGE.
It wasn't just nailed up there, it was glued with some sort of super human strength glue. And when you took it down it split into pieces and the plaster behind it would chunk off and you'd be left with a huge mess which cost a fortune to then fix.
So whenever I see the gorgeous rooms on Fixer Upper, I ooh and ah over their kitchen renovations, their amazing transformation of the ugly and the outdated and their creative use of space.
But when I see the shiplap walls, all I can picture is the Brady Bunch rec room.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.
Or is it Joanna, Joanna, Joanna?
There's just some trends that I am too old to look at in awe and wonder and not have flashbacks to the first time they came around.
Rock on Chip and Joanna, you're still my heroes. I'm not breaking up with you or anything, but I just can't get on board with the shiplap/paneling trend this go-round.
So I'll see you Sunday. I'll be the one sitting on the couch with the unwashed hair.
Are there any design trends that you just can't get on board with?
cathie
well it's March 2020, and this trend is still in full swing... Please for the love of god, stop it people- you don't live on a farm or down the shore. NO, no more.
I can't imagine taking all this paneling down if 10 years. ugh!
Lori
Agree with all the overdone “farmhouse” trend that is happening in every renovation or new build happening today. Why does everyone want their house to the same?? Here’s what REALLY makes me scratch my head...concrete tiles that look like a quilt was laid on the floor! Aside from the crazy busy pattern, do people not realize that it will require a jackhammer to remove in 10 years when you just can’t stand to look at it anymore?? I can’t even...
Jeffrey Coggins
i agree in the sense of it being used in a way that every room looks like a big collection of the same thing. however, i have seen beautiful work done by painting it different colors in different rooms of the house much like drywall and it’s an amazing difference compared to what has been normalized (everything white shiplap). i have installed the smooth version, not the raw, above wainscoting and painted it in different colors throughout a home. it really makes the home feel cohesive walking throughout, but just enough difference in color palettes of furniture and design throughout. i wish more people were creative with it, even perhaps stenciling on it, rather than just popping up white shiplap.
Elyce
As much as I love to binge watch all the HGTV shows that have the exact same design every time (Fixer Upper, Property Brothers, and Flip or Flop being my favorites), I can't stand the shiplap trend. I just bought my first house last year and I'm lucky there is only paneling in the dining room/kitchen. I don't know if they randomly only put it in there or if at some point in this house's 50 year life, someone took it out of the rest of the house. It was already painted when I got the house, so I merely painted it a different color. Shiplap is just paneling turned on its side to me. Actually, I have some shiplap in my garage, though it's not nearly as well put-together or cute as FU makes it look. It was slapped on at some point in the past, probably when the house was built. I live very near Texas, so maybe that's why.
Other than the shiplap trend, though, I do subscribe to other "pinterest" trends. My living room is grey, as is the couch and dining room chairs, and carpet in the bedrooms. I plan on repainting the kitchen cabinets white (yes, despite what commenters here think). Currently, they're an ugly buttermilk yellow, combined with original ugly 1964 rust brown tile backsplash. The same tile is in every bathroom too, ugh. I got it partially out of the guest bath in my remodel, but it's still in the shower. When I rip it out, I plan on putting in subway tile (another trend!). I figure it may be a trend, but it's also a classic and when I sell my house in a few years, someone won't walk in and say, "ew, look at that brown tile. Gross." I want it to be known (to potential buyers, as you do when looking at houses) as "the cute A frame house" not the "ugly kitchen" house. You don't want to know what I nicknamed the houses I saw when looking (The "die in a fire" house, the "serial killer" house, the "pinterest" house that was dark grey and bright yellow with chevrons on the wall, etc).
I guess all this rambling is just saying I don't see the point of shiplap or trends that aren't easily changed (don't remind me of the wallpaper I took down in the bathroom). Paint is easy, floors, painting cabinets. All easy changes, but tearing down panelling... I'm not even going to attempt it in my house.
Nicole Winkles
SO MUCH YES!! I feel the exact same!!
Stacy
Funny. No one is addressing all the perfectly good tile that, despise it's great shape, is torn down in most remodels because it has become "dated". All things come in and go out of style. No one style will be perfect for everyone. To each his own?
Tonya
Just read through every comment on here and have decided against installing fake shiplap on my walls. Thank you. Although, my last kitchen remodel I did install gray cabinets, and subway tile. 🙂