The Build Up (You are considering skipping right down to The Takeaway, aren’t you? I don’t blame you.)

Wow! What just happened?

First of all, we never expected our little brick vs. shiplap competition to be so close! We are so appreciative that so many people took the time to vote and now we are ready to get to work, but what will we be working on?  The moment of truth is upon on!

As those of you who were following along closely know, after closing the poll exactly 24 hours after it started, the results looked like this:

As you can see, the competition finished in a dead heat between shiplap and brick, but in this case, the truth lies in that tiny little percentage of others. Obviously, “other” as a category didn’t win, but what those people wrote for their “other” vote actually changes our results.

The first “other” was clearly feeling some extreme guilt and because of that, they used the “other” button as some sort of personal therapeutic tool.  They wrote: “While Chip and Jo are my life ???? I’d say brick is the only way to go here!”  So, not only did that little note help the person who wrote it sleep better that night, but it also added one vote to Team Brick that isn’t included in the chart, putting them slightly ahead of Team Shiplap.

Finally, the last “other” voter wrote in: “Shiplap on all exterior portions and brick on the interior-combine old and new!” This one is a little dicier because the person clearly has a love for both options. However, it doesn’t seem to me like any part of this supports putting shiplap on the inside of our mantle, which is what we are primarily trying to decide right now.  Also, we were never totally sure what would happen above the mantle if brick won, so the option of using shiplap there seems like a great idea and is one that we will consider (possibly even vote on)!

The Takeaway

All of you seriously passionate “timeless is best”, “use what you already have”, “it will bring a different color and texture to the room”, brick-loving people will be happy to hear…. BRICK IT IS!  But the other takeaway is that lots of our readers love shiplap and even many of those who voted for brick suggested that we use shiplap “everywhere else” in the house. So, rest assured, this will not be the last you see of the shiplap option!  Stay tuned…

We hope everyone has a great weekend. Time for us to get to work! (Who am I kidding, Ronan is still sleeping.)