I've been wanting to do something with a pallet for a long time, and I have finally gotten around to it. You see so many great pallet wood projects out there, it is inspiring. I loved this reclaimed wood sign from Serendipity Refined since the minute I saw it last year (*swoon*), and although I am not that artistic, I thought I would give it a shot.
To do this project, I didn't just "steal" a pallet. Pallets are often reused and most of them will have "Property Of: So-N-So" on the side. Therefore even if they are sitting on a store's loading dock, it doesn't mean they are up for grabs. You should always ask if you can have them before taking them. Also, you should educate yourself on what exactly the pallet is made of/treated with and how to pick a "safe" type. They can be downright hazardous to work with.
Lucky for me, my local grocery store was getting rid of a couple broken heat treated pallets (these used to belong to an ice cream company):
Using my crowbar and lots of elbow grease I removed all the boards and then lined them up randomly. I used my nail gun to attach them to two 2x4s.
I used some leftover stain from my bathroom cabinets to even out the color between the boards:
I found a silhouette of a turkey on the internet and blew it up in Photoshop. I then turned it into a PDF so I could print it on multiple sheets of paper (you could pay to have it printed on a large scale printer, but I am WAAAAY to cheap for that!)
Just like my compass rose table, I glued the paper down with spray adhesive (I didn't use freezer paper in this project since I didn't mind if the paint bled a little, that would make it more rustic and distressed looking). Using a razor blade I cut out the silhouette and was left with a stencil:
I watered down some random white paint I had lying around (so that you could still see a little of the wood) and filled in the stencil:
I love how it turned out. I was thinking of adding words to the top "Give Thanks" or something like that, but I am tired of cutting out lettering stencils. Maybe for Christmas I'll ask for a cutting machine and I'll go back and add them next year.
Cute!
ReplyDeleteI saw a sign for free wood pallets. Didn't know what to do with them so passed by. Now I'm going back and trying this out. great signs, love the aged boards.
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