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My Idiah: Wood Projects

Making decorative or functional pieces out of pallets and old barn wood seem to be all the rage right now, so I thought I would share some projects to help get your creative juices flowing for your own project.

3 years ago we picked up some pallets to make a rustic, functional coffee table for our patio. The materials needed are: 1 pallet, approximately 4 feet of 4×4 wood, at least 8 long wood screws, 4 caster wheels and stain. Direction: Cut the 4×4 wood into 4-1 foot pieces to use for the legs of the table. Attach each leg under a corner of the pallet, you may want to check the length before you attach them with the screws to make sure you are happy with the height. After the legs are attached, screw in the caster wheels to the bottom of each leg to make the table easy to move around on a hard surface. Your table is basically complete now! Feel free to finish it with a stain of your colour choice. Now put up your feet on your new table and enjoy!

This next project I created with a piece of old barn wood. I wanted to make a “Welcome” sign for my front door, so for materials I got: 1 piece of old wood, sander, pencil or pen, paint, thin paint brush, stencil for lettering. I started off by sanding the surface and the edges to make sure it was smooth to start with. Then, on a computer, find the font/size you want and print out the word you are using. I printed out the W a few times first, until I was satisfied with its size. Then I printed out the whole word. I cut them into individual letters and laid them out on the board, the way I wanted it to look. I took my pen/pencil and pressing firmly, I traced out the letters to form an indented impression of the letters on the sign. Now take your thin paint brush and trace out the letters in paint; the indent will help keep the paint from leaking outside the line and will give you a beautiful, crisp copy of the font/letter you chose. This can take some time, so make sure you have some patience! After tracing the letters, fill the remaining letter in with paint. After you have painted all the letters on your sign, feel free to add some embellishments to it. I took some twine and wrapped it around the top several times and finished it in a bow. Make it your own!

A reader of ours shared with us a picture of an outdoor sectional she made for her deck out of old pallets. Great Job! She finished the project by staining the sectional and adding cushions.

Check out our Pinterest page for more ideas and instructions on making your own pallet or barn wood projects. We put together an album full of tutorials, pictures and inspiration to help get you started on your very own project. Search for Design Your Home on Pinterest to find us!

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