Have you ever found yourself staring at an empty room wondering how you can dress up this blank canvas with coziness and warmth? We have one easy way to makeover your rooms with a Wood Plank Ceiling Makeover that won’t break the bank, but will certainly make your rooms look elevated and inviting. Just look up and start with your ceiling! Adding wood planks to your ceiling not only covers up all that popcorn texture but gives you some character that these modern homes aren’t built with. For our project, we wanted to do a guest bedroom makeover that certainly turned back time about 100 years and adding wood planks to our ceiling was the crown of our beautiful room.

Take a look at what our room looked like before:

Below is a list of supplies you’ll need to complete a similar Guest Room Makeover

• Fusion Gel Stain Double Espresso
• Paint Brush
• Braid Nailer + Nails
• Construction adhesive
• Pine Tongue and Groove Wall Planks
• Stud finder

Wood Plank Ceiling Makeover

Our room was a blank canvas. It was your standard builder-grade room with popcorn ceilings, plain walls and standard trim. We had plans to renovate the entire room, but figured it would be best to start from the top down. Our first step was to identify the ceiling joists using a stud finder. We want to put the majority of our nails into the joints to make sure the ceiling holds so labelling it with a marker or pen is the first thing you want to do.

Next, we wanted to decide on our stain. Since the planks are going on our ceiling, we know the actual colour is going to reflect darker. So we took a board and tested a bunch of different stains to find the colour that wouldn’t be too warm or too light.  We wanted a deep rich color that allowed the wood grain to shine.

Stain sample #2 was our winner! It’s Fusion Mineral Paint’s Gel Stain and Top Coat in the colour Double Espresso. What we love about this product is that it’s a 2-in-1 product that gives us a rich stain with the durability of an oil-based topcoat. 

Next, we thoroughly stirred our Double Espresso Gel Stain & Topcoat and applied one coat. Gel stain is not a “wipe-on wipe-off” product, like Fusions Stain and Finishing Oil, but instead, a thick pigmented hardwearing top coat. You want to apply the gel stain in even coats and feather it carefully to avoid any lapsing brush strokes. We used a chip brush to help get into all the knots and wood grain. You want to give this at least 24 hours to dry. 

Planking the Ceiling

After the gel stain was completely dry, we started adding our planks to the ceiling. You want to start from the end of the room that has the longest wall. We added a bead of construction adhesive to the back and started nailing, one board at a time to the ceiling joists and at the end of each plank. 

Since these are tongue and groove planks, you need to fit the boards properly before nailing them to the ceiling. This allows the wood to expand and contract with the temperature in the room without it cracking or breaking. You will also likely have to modify and cut some boards around light fixtures and non-square rooms. 

A Scottish Country Look for a Guest Room Makeover

Can you believe this is even the same builder-grade, boring blank canvas room that we started with? We can’t either! It’s amazing how the small projects and details truly come together at the end of a project and pull your vision together. This room went from a plain, boring room to something out of a Scottish Highland inn!

Double Espresso was the perfect choice for this project, not only for the rich warmth it brings out in the wood grain but also for the subtle lustre it adds to the surface. It reflects some of the light in the room, making it feel so inviting!

Looking at a closeup of the ceiling you can truly see how much this warmth brings out in the wood grain. While this project was not a super expensive DIY, it really adds a layer of rustic elegance to this room that makes it feel so much more high end!

Finally, we should talk about how this Wood Plank Ceiling Makeover DIY project can complement so many styles in your home. Modern farmhouse, rustic chic, or even grand-millennial! Wood planks can work in harmony with so many décor styles. You can whitewash, clear coat, faux driftwood finish or paint them a fun bold colour! 

Whatever your next wood project is, we hope you choose to finish your beautiful wood grain with Fusion’s Gel Stain and Topcoat!

To see this full Scottish-inspired guest bedroom makeover click here!