How to Plank a Ceiling & Install Crown

We've talked about wanting to give our ceilings a bit more attention in this home than we have in previous homes, and yesterday we did just that! Though things have really slowed down these past few months (for everyone), we're making such great progress and are getting so close! Here's how our closet started out this week:

Not bad, not bad. But today she's looking more like:

Doesn't that ceiling just make you so happy?! The planks only took 2 hours and the crown another 2, so this could definitely be a 1-day project for a lot of applications - the shiplap installs so fast. Here's how we did it.

Materials you'll need for this project:
• primed shiplap
• primed crown moulding
• brad nails
• liquid nails
• spackle/wood filler
• paintable caulk

Tools you'll need for this project:
• miter saw
• measuring tape
• brad nailer
• jigsaw/angle grinder (if coping the crown)
• caulk gun

Plan for your room
Notice we didn't list how many pieces of shiplap or crown moulding we used. We didn't list that because it's irrelevant to your room. When measuring out for shiplap, take the following factors into consideration:

• Do you want seams (butting two boards together to span an area)?
- you have less waste with seams, but not as a clean of a look
- depending on the size of your room, you may not have the option of no seams
• Which direction do you want the lines to run?
- do you want the gaps in the boards to look like lanes on a road, or steps of a ladder?
• What length of boards would be best?
- depending on your room size, you can sometimes reduce waste and avoid seams by purchasing the right length of boards

Our closet is about 10 feet at its widest, and a little under 8 feet at the narrow. We went with 12ft and 8ft boards and were able to save a lot of waste (and some cost), as opposed to going all 12ft. And when we cut our boards, we didn't have to be exact since we added crown moulding after that covered the edges (more on that in a bit).

Hang the shiplap
If the direction you choose for your shiplap runs perpendicular to your ceiling joists, happy day! Simple run a chalk line alone each joist and pop a brad nail into each board right on the joists. Glue is optional in this case, but usually a good idea as it keeps the boards from loosening and beginning to rattle over years of tiny vibrations that occur in every home.

If your boards run parallel to your ceiling joists, as in our case, then you definitely need to use liquid nails on the back of your boards. Additionally, you'll still use the brad nailer to drive brad nails through the shiplap into the ceiling, at alternating angles. The nails are really just there to hold the board in place as the liquid nails dries.

Cut out lights and vents
Most rooms will have lights, so be sure to cut those out. We used a 4in drywall saw and it was perfect. Just make sure that, as you're hanging your shiplap, you measure and mark the locations of every light.

You may also run into vents in your ceiling. Nail the plank into the ceiling on each side of the vent before using a jigsaw to cut the profile of the vent.

Cut and Cope the Crown
Say that ten times fast.
Crown moulding is tricky. With baseboard or window trim you're dealing with one or two planes - crown moulding is three and they're almost never squared. You can take one of two approaches - use the miter saw to cut 45 degree angles on inside and outside corners, hoping for the best and caulking the rest. OR, coping. My preferred task is mitering, my preferred result is coping. So we cope.

When coping crown, you start by installing a solid piece of crown, with straight-cut ends, at your strongest visual point. This is often the wall opposite the entrance to the room, as in the picture above. Then you cut the piece adjacent at the appropriate angle, and carve out the profile using a jigsaw or angle grinder so it slides tightly into it.

I prefer to use the jigsaw for a rough cutout of the profile, then I fine-tune with the grinder.

I'm by no means a pro, but I'll do a more in-depth post and video on coping in the future. It's a pretty slow process, but ends up with much tighter joints.

Of course, as you see in the picture above, you still have to miter the outside corners, and mine wasn't quite snug. But wood filler and sanding will make that disappear. That inside corner, however. Magnifique.

I'd say we're 80% of the way to making these IKEA cabinets look anything but. Once everything is sanded, caulked, and taped off, we'll be ready for paint, which is gonna blow some minds! But today, we're celebrating this the progress by staring at it endlessly.