White Shiplap DIY Gingerbread Cottage

Create a white shiplap cottage from a store-bought gingerbread house! An almond slice roof, pretzel window trim and fresh rosemary give it charm.

white shiplap cottage, wood slice, golden glow

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Hey shiplap lovers, this white Christmas cottage is for you! If you love to decorate gingerbread houses, why not try your hand at a shiplap version! The full tutorial and supplies are listed below.

Welcome to a virtual Christmas Cookies hop, hosted by Jen of Tatertots and Jello. You'll find links below to a whole batch of yummy cookies you can bake for your family and friends! If you hopped over here from Ashley and Jamin at The Handmade Home, welcome! Their easy cake mix cookies look so good, and a great time-saving option for this crazy time of year!

I'm Cindy, and over here in my little corner of the web, I love to inspire you with DIY and craft tutorials and decor ideas to make your home beautiful on a budget! If you're not already following along, I'd love to have you join my tribe ❤

I love baking (and eating!) Christmas cookies, and some of our family favorites include:

White Shiplap DIY Christmas Cottage

When I spotted a darling white shiplap cottage on Floyd Kinney IG last year, I knew I needed to make one this year! I finally did it and it turned out better than expected!

This shiplap cottage would be a such a fun craft night project with friends! But I suggest purchasing or making small gingerbread house kits to be able to finish in an hour or so!

I won't lie, you'll need to invest a couple hours into making a large gingerbread shiplap cottage like I made, but I think it's so worth it! Just a note: this is not an edible gingerbread house! It's made with gum, and hot glue! However, I'll share tips to make an edible version too.

I'm going to break the tutorial up into sections to make it easier to follow.

Supplies used:

gingerbread house kit with windows (I used THIS kit)
hard candies for glass windows
Beemans gum (you'll need 12 pkgs for this size house) or strips of premade white fondant for an edible house
sliced almonds
pretzel sticks
shredded coconut
various candies to embellish
hot glue (lots!) or make a batch of royal icing for an edible house
fresh rosemary or other greenery
royal icing (I used the icing from the kit)
X-acto knife

gingerbread house kit, gum, candies, almonds, icing, glue gun

Unwrap Gum

Grab a plate and unwrap your gum. Make a stack on the plate and set aside. Why Beeman's? It's the perfect white color for our faux shiplap! You could also use Extra Peppermint. To make your house edible, roll out and cut strips of white fondant for your shiplap! A rotary cutter will give you the smoothest cuts.

Carve Windows

Use the X-acto knife to carefully carve out the windows on the fronts and sides of the gingerbread house. Be careful and go slow! My first try was unsuccessful and I broke my gingerbread. If you do break it, it's not the end of the world because you can glue it together, and the candy windows will help hold it together.

Best tips:

Premade gingerbread is thick! Don't try to cut through it in one go! Use a cutting board and take it slow and gentle.

use the tip of the knife to make little cuts through the surface on the first pass
on the second and subsequent passes, gently draw the knife toward you to slowly cut through the gingerbread, a little at a time
you'll feel it when the knife goes all the way through; don't rush it!

Make candy windows

Crush the yellow candies (I put them in a ziploc bag and gently hit with a rolling pin). They don't need to be powder! Small chunks are okay.

Use parchment paper or silicone mats on your cookie sheets. Fill the open windows with the candies to fill about 3/4 of the way. Bake in a 350° oven for 5-8 minutes or until candies are melted. Remove and cool in place.

Note: I cut out the door piece too because I wanted it to be propped open

Assemble house

Use hot glue to assemble the house sides and front. We're not putting the roof on yet! For an edible house, assemble with royal icing.

Add shiplap

Hot glue gum pieces to fronts and sides of house, overlapping slightly. Trim the gum down as needed for a perfect fit. It was so nice to see all my cracks covered up! Note: for an edible house, use royal icing to hold the fondant strips in place. Or you can give the gingerbread house a white cottage feel by spreading the pieces with white frosting!

cover sides in white gum slices to resemble shiplap

cover gingerbread house in white gum slices to resemble shiplap

Decorate roof pieces

Hot glue sliced almond pieces like I did or wheat chex (the thin cereal) or another cereal to the roof, overlapping pieces slightly. This part took the longest and if I made another shiplap cottage, I would probably do something simpler! I think a toasted coconut roof would be adorable, and certainly go much faster! Gently hot glue one side of the roof at a time to the top of the cottage. Again, if you're making an edible version, use royal icing to attach the roof to the cottage.

add overlapping almond slices to roof pieces

Add pretzel trim

Cut pretzel pieces to fit around windows and door. Any imperfections will be covered with icing, so don't fret!

Add icing snow

Make your own royal icing or use the icing that came in the kit to add snow wherever you want (or wherever you need to cover up boo boos!)

Decorate house

I used fresh rosemary pieces along the front of the roofline, and even made a little rosemary wreath. The little red candies that came with the kit were added as berries.

Tip: Wait to add any colored candies until the icing has started to set, otherwise the color may run! You could even wait until the house is completely dry and then hot glue the little details on.

I sprinkled some coconut flakes along the roofline, and even sprinkled a little glass glitter on the icing for some sparkle. For an edible version, use sugar to give the snow a little sparkle!

Set the house aside for 24 hours for everything to set and dry completely.

Create a winter scene

I used a wood slice under my gingerbread cottage, and sprinkled the perimeter with flaked coconut. A little bottlebrush tree is resting beside it.

Two pieces of gum were rolled up to create a little mailbox. The post is a pretzel. To get it to stand up, I cut a small square of cardboard and poked a hole in the middle. I used a generous amount of hot glue and poked the pretzel into that hole. Once it was dried, I added icing snow to the top of the mailbox.

bottlebrush tree, coconut flakes, mailbox

I gently lifted the house and tucked a battery operated tea light inside to get a pretty warm glow.

white shiplap gingerbread cottage, wood slice, golden glow

white shiplap gingerbread cottage, candy windows, frosting snow

Isn't this white shiplap cottage charming? I'm using it as a centerpiece in my kitchen, but it would be equally as cute sitting on a bookshelf!

I'm going to try to preserve this shiplap cottage by taking the following steps:

spraying the house with multiple light coats of sealer
generously wrapping it in bubble wrap and packing it away for next year

Fingers crossed!

Of course, if you made the edible version, your kiddos will probably love to eat your shiplap cottage! Whether you make one this year or plan to next year, pin the image below to save this idea!

Pin to Save

white shiplap gingerbread cottage, frosting snow, candy berries, rosemary, almond slices

My friends are sharing their cookie ideas below (all edible!), be sure to check them out, I'm sure you'll find some new favorites! Laura from Inspiration for Moms is next on this virtual cookie hop. Her monster cookies look amazing!