How to Make Your Shiplap Edges Look Finished

Do you have any shiplap on the walls in your home? Here is an article showing how to trim the shiplap edges to make them look clean and finished.

Shiplap is a one of the fastest growing trends of the farmhouse movement. There are many ways to use it for the different styles as well. The key is in the details. Let’s answer all the questions about the best shiplap edge trim to make your shiplap walls look amazing.

unfinished shiplap edges before caulk or trim around a fireplace in a living room

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Table of Contents

The Different Ways of Finishing Shiplap Edges

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know I like to give the info at the top for an easy read and then go into further detail, so here we go, the different ways to finish shiplap edges:

Paintable Caulk
Corner Trim
Trim Boards for the along the Ceiling and Floor
Half Wall or Accent wall trim

Using Caulk on Shiplap Edges

The easiest way to trim shiplap edges doesn’t involve any trim at all. It’s Caulk! Caulk will give your shiplap edges a professional quality and make them look clean and polished. It’s the best way to hide seams in your shiplap walls as well.

Make sure to get paintable caulk. It can be used on any gap or blemish, and is really forgiving to help hide mistakes. It helps hide seams in wallpaper as well.

I have certainly made SEVERAL mistakes for sure when installing shiplap, especially when painting shiplap.

clean caulked edges of shiplap with no trim on the shiplap edges in a dining room

First, load your caulk gun and run a bead along the shiplap edge or corner.

Then, this is my favorite part, take a baby wipe and smooth the caulk into the groove between the shiplap edge and the wall and just watch the magic. If you don’t have baby wipes on hand, just wet your finger with some water and repeat the same process.

Next, while the caulk is still wet, check along all the shiplap edges and cracks for large globs or excess caulk and wipe that away. It is a lot harder to remove it once it dries.

After the caulk is dry, you can paint your shiplap!

Trim Boards for Shiplap Edges

Trim is another way shiplap edges can be finished. It is a great way to give the shiplap wall or walls different personalities and distinguish between different styles.

I like using very simple and classic trim so the shiplap feature walls have the spotlight, while you may prefer a cleaner, more modern trim.

crown molding on top of shiplap and wide flat thick chunky trim on the side edge of the shiplap

Whatever kind of trim you used on the sides, the installation process is the same.

First, Measure your sides and cut trim to length. Depending on the size of trim for the shiplap, use a miter saw, miter box, or miter shears to cut it.

Next, Nail on your trim. You can use construction adhesive or some kind of glue on the back of the trim, but I change my mind with feature walls so often I just nail them in with my nail gun.

Finally, fill any holes in the shiplap trim with wood filler and let dry. Once dry, sand it smooth before painting. Caulk the shiplap corner edges also before painting.

Different Trim Styles to Finish Your Shiplap

Here are a few different options for shiplap trim in pictures

wide flat modern clean thick trim around shiplap wall in a bathroom — Larger Flat Modern Trim

simple classic slim sublte trim around a shiplap wall in the living room — Simple Quarter Round

Inside and Outside Shiplap Corner Trim Recommendations

Adding shiplap to a room is one of my favorite ways to add character and charm to a space. If you are anything like me, your installation is not going to be perfect.

A great way to conceal any gaps or mistakes in the corners is to install corner trim. For outside corners, install this trim on outside corner, for inside corners, install this one.

outside corner trim for a horizontal or vertical shiplap wall on the side edges — Outside Corner Trim

inside corner trim used on a shiplap wall either vertical or horizontal — Outside Corner Trim

Trim Boards for Shiplap Walls Along Ceilings and Floors

For the ceiling, crown molding is my favorite option. It is a classic option and will instantly lift the look of the your shiplap walls. If you are doing a single wall of shiplap, a wide flat trim along the ceiling and the sides of the shiplap edges will finish it off nicely too.

When choosing a baseboard for your shiplap accent walls, choose your preferred style before purchasing your shiplap boards or trim boards.

Once you’ve chosen your baseboards, grab shiplap boards that are the same thickness or slightly thinner than the baseboard.

We chose to do a contrasting color here on the baseboards in Stone Hearth by Benjamin Moore.

shiplap wall with baseboards the same width as the horizontal shiplap on too of the baseboard. could be used for vertical shiplap wall as well — A Baseboard the same width as the shiplap boards

larger wider modern baseboard under horizontal shiplap wall in the living room around the fireplace — A Baseboard the same width as the shiplap boards

Other Trim Choices for Shiplap Walls

Shiplap, like a lot of wood these days, is expensive. A way to get the look for less is to do a half wall or half lap, or one accent wall.

Accent Walls

A single accent wall of shiplap will be layered on top of a baseboard, so the only shiplap edge trim that is really needed is along the sides. Choose one of the previously suggested trims for shiplap and install in the same way.

black accent shiplap wall horizontal with trim above the shiplap and below the crown molding

If your room already has crown moulding, you can take the shiplap to the bottom edge of the molding or add another piece of trim directly below the bottom edge on top of the unfinished shiplap edge right below the crown moulding.

Half Shiplap Walls

I love how a half vertical shiplap walls look in a home. It’s easy to add the finishing touches to these walls, simply add a 1×4 board above the top edge of the shiplap. If you want to make a ledge for pictures and other trinkets to sit on, add a 1×2 or 1×3 on top 1×4 trim board.

vertical half shiplap wall with a flat wide trim piece on the top of the vertical shiplap wall

On a horizontal half shiplap wall, nail a 1×2 or 1×3 to the top edge of the last shiplap board. It is recommended that the shiplap wall treatment goes about two thirds up the wall. For example: if your ceilings are 9 ft, add ship lap 6 ft up the wall.

Shiplap Door Trim

Another question asked a lot about trim for shiplap is shiplap door trim. I recommend if you are shiplapping a wall with a door or doors, make sure your door trim is installed first.

Any door trim will look nice against the shiplap, but I would do it before adding the shiplap to the wall. Don’t forget to caulk the edges where the shiplap meets the door trim.

Final Thoughts?

The way you choose to finish your shiplap edges is up to you! We have talked about several different ways to finish the shiplap edges. There is caulk, trim for shiplap: outer and inner corners, door trim, ceiling and floor, and door trims.

Whichever option you choose, finishing shiplap edges will make your rooms and accent walls look professionally done. Don’t take the shortcuts, trim your shiplap edges!

Until Later Friends!