Bathroom Makeover : Plank Wall



A person in a striped shirt and jeans is holding a cast iron skillet outdoors near a window.


Transform Your Bathroom

Our friend, Megan, over at Life on Shady Lane, recently renovated her bathroom with one of our freestanding copper soaking tubs and a new copper bath sink all-in-one kit with Pfister faucet. She has been so grateful to share all the amazing details in this modern farmhouse bathroom renovation reveal! Inspired by her project, I decided to try my hand at a DIY plank wall.

The Charm of a Wood Plank Wall

A while ago, I shared my modern farmhouse bathroom makeover [here]. Honestly, I love every single aspect of it…but one thing I am so proud of is how the wall turned out. It’s exactly how I pictured it would look and makes the bathroom feel cozy but still modern. This DIY wood plank wall is super easy to do and can be painted white to give it a shiplap feel or stained (which is what we chose to do).

Starting from Scratch

We completely gutted this bathroom down to nothing before beginning the remodel. We could have drywalled the entire room, but that would have been a lot more difficult…and it wasn’t the look I was going for. So we completely skipped drywall and just installed 1×6 tongue and groove boards from Home Depot. We used them on the walls AND the ceiling, just painted them white (you can read more about specific colors and additional bathroom selections here]) and stained the wall boards.



A bathroom counter with a granite surface, a copper sink, and a rustic wooden mirror. The counter has jars with cotton balls and a black shelf with a basket, plant, and decorative sign.
A shower area with white shiplap walls, a wooden ceiling, a black rainfall showerhead, and a towel hanging on a metal rod.
Two cans of Minwax products, one labeled "Fast-Drying Polyurethane" and the other "Wood Finish Penetrating Stain," with a foam brush on top, placed next to wooden planks.


Preparing Your DIY Plank Wall

My biggest tip: measure your room first, cut the boards accordingly, and then stain them – BEFORE you put them up! We installed the wall boards before painting, and that worked great…but installing them stained is a different ballgame. I didn’t want to be dealing with applying stain on the wall…plus it would have dripped everywhere and created a huge mess. So, while I was super anxious to get the boards up, exercising a little bit of patience was definitely the right move here.

PS: I had Brandon cut the boards with his miter saw, but if you don’t have one, most hardware stores will cut the boards for you! I used Minwax wood stain in the color Jacobean and applied it with a soft rag [like this one]. I let the stain soak in and dry completely, for about 24 hours, and then used a foam brush to apply Minwax’s fast-drying polyurethane.

They aren’t kidding when they say this stuff dries fast – it only took about four hours until I felt like it was totally dry. I actually waited another 24 hours before applying a second coat, though, just to be on the safe side. I could have sanded in between coats of polyurethane, but since this was going on the wall, I didn’t need the boards to be super-smooth. So, I skipped sanding and applied a second coat of poly, let that dry, and then the boards were ready to go up!

Installing Your DIY Plank Wall

Starting at the bottom of the wall, we put one board up and used a nail gun to secure it in place. Then, each following board fits into the one before it (hence the name “tongue and groove”!). Each board was nailed in as we went. Some of the boards weren’t perfectly straight, so they had to be tapped in with a hammer, so the tongue/groove parts met up.

The trickiest part of the whole project was probably cutting the boards to fit around our fixtures. Brandon used his Dremel multitool to do it, and it worked perfectly!



A bathroom with a copper bathtub, white shiplap walls, a wooden ceiling, and a black rainfall showerhead. A white towel hangs on a metal rod, and there is a toilet paper holder with extra rolls nearby.


Source List Wood StainPolyurethaneT-Shirt Cloth RagsFoam BrushesNail GunMiter SawTongue and Groove BoardsMultitool



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If you have any additional questions during your search for the perfect copper, fireclay farmhouse sink or crafted stainless steel sink, our Sinkologists™ are here to help. Contact us or follow us on Facebook, Houzz, Pinterest, Instagram, or TikTok for more helpful tips and design ideas.

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