DIY American Flag Pallet {Tutorial}

We recently put in a fence and when all of the supplies were delivered to our house the concrete for the fence posts came on a pallet. The Mr. had the idea to turn that pallet into an American flag and I loved the idea!  I looked up a few different tutorials online and ended up with a game plan.  I love the way it turned out and happy that I finished it just in time for the 4th of July!

As promised on Instagram stories, I thought I would share a tutorial in case anyone else has access to a pallet and looking for a project!

The first step was to prep the pallet.  Our slats were spaced apart, but I decided that I liked the look of them being closer together. I started to take them off and it was taking me forever so the Mr. took over this part of the project and worked much faster than I did.  He took them off of both sides and then nailed them all onto one side closer together.

At this point I sanded it down a bit, but left it pretty rough because I liked the rustic feel of it and didn't want it to be too perfect. Next the kids and I spray painted the entire pallet white and when it dried I used painters tape to tape off where I wanted the stripes.  This obviously doesn't have the correct number of stripes as the real flag, but I wanted to use each slat as a stripe to make it easier to paint. I just made sure there was a red one on the top and at the very bottom.   

Up first were the red stripes! 

Next I adjusted the tape a bit so I could paint the blue part and left the tape on what would be the white stripes so it didn't overspray too much.

Finally I was ready for the stars. I debated several ways to do this, but ultimately ended up making my own stencil.  It was easy to do using any word processing program.  You simply open a new document, go to Insert, then Shape, and finally Star. 

I just copied and pasted the stars until I got them arranged in the pattern I wanted and printed it out. Then I used a straight edge razor and a ruler on a cutting board to cut out each star. It took forever, but was so worth it in the end! 

I taped the stencil down and used white acrylic paint with a sponge paint brush. 

I ended up having to move my stencil around after each section dried several times to get all 50 stars because I was worried about the paint smudging. I could have avoided this and painted them all at once, but that would have meant cutting out more stars.

Originally, I was going to put the flag on our screened porch, but ended up putting it down on our patio because I have so many other red, white, and blue things down there right now for summer. 

To hang it we screwed a wire picture hanger in the back. 

Then the Mr. found a stud, added a screw, and hung it for me! 

I just love the way it looks down there and I feel like it finishes off the space perfectly!  

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DIY Anchor Pallet Wood Sign

This DIY anchor pallet wood sign might be one of the easiest projects we have ever done! Mostly because it wasn't a long thought out project. On Friday night I was sitting in our office and glanced over at a box that had been leaning against the wall for well over the year. I was sipping on wine, catching up on emails and suddenly thought, "I know what to do with that!".

In the box contained a wooden anchor monogrammed with our initial. I had ordered it last spring or summer. I knew where I wanted to hang it, but always thought it needed a little something more in the space so I tabled the project. Until wine-aspiration hit.

I knew we had some left over pallets from a Christmas present. We kept meaning to put them in the trash collection or give them to someone who could use them, but never did. I thought if we could use the pallet wood to make a backing for the anchor sign it might look good.

I called over Mr. Cute and made him one of my infamous design drawings. He took two seconds to look at it and said it would be super easy for him to knock out.

Saturday rolled around and after our soccer parent duties were done for the day, he broke out his tools and got to work. Within an hour we had our sign ready to hang!

I took a few pictures through the process in case anyone wants instructions on how to make their own.

HOW TO MAKE A DIY ANCHOR PALLET WOOD SIGN

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• A wooden anchor or design in your choice (obviously these instructions could work with anything. You would just have to adjust your dimensions). I ordered my monogrammed anchor from here. 
• Pallet wood - This project used approximately two pallets of wood. 
• Trim nails (We used a nail gun to mail this process a little quicker.)
• A compound miter saw (Not sure if this is necessary, but it made the project go much faster. You could probably saw and sand, it would just be a longer process.)
• Chalk paint

INSTRUCTIONS

• Pull all usable boards from your pallets. We made our sign 19" across, so Mr. Cute made sure to pull good boards with enough length for him to trim down. 

• Measure, mark and cut down the boards to your desired size. Again, we knew we wanted a sign around 19" wide so Mr. Cute cut down around 8 boards at that length with his compound miter saw. 

• Arrange the boards in the order you want before adhering them together. Because of the varying colors of wood we made sure to arrange the boards in a pattern we thought would look best. 

• Once you've chosen your desired layout you can begin nailing the boards together. Mr. Cute cut  two boards the length of the sign for the back (our was approximately 26" in length). He placed the boards in the pattern we chose on top and then nailed each board into them with trim nails. 

Note: Originally we were going to frame in the sign too, but we didn't have enough usable wood left over from the pallets. 

• Now that the pallet backing is done, lay flat and place the monogram on top to make sure everything looks the way you want it and measures correctly. 

• Time to paint! 

Originally I had plans to paint the pallet wood white and the monogram navy, but once I saw it all together I thought it actually looked good natural. Mr. Cute suggested maybe just painting the monogram so I went with a white chalk paint and loved how it turned out. 

• Let the chalk paint dry and then paint over it once with a clear coat. 

• After everything is dry, remeasure and place your anchor on the pallet wood for final attachment. 

• Attach the sign with two small trim nails at the top and the bottom. Fill in any holes with a quick touch up of your paint color. 

• Time to hang! Now your DIY anchor pallet wood sign shoulda be ready for display! 

We have a little rolling bar cart/cooler someone gave Mr. Cute a few years ago on one of our patios and I placed the sign over it. The minute we hung the sign I knew it was the perfect use for the monogrammed anchor.  We hung the sign a little higher than normal because I didn't want anyone to knock into it when they were opening the top of the cooler when getting a drink. It is super heavy and falling on someone would most definitely hurt. 

I have plans to add a little something to each side of the sign. Maybe glassware holders or two smaller signs? I'm tossing a few ideas around in my head. A little more wine-spiration and I'm sure I will come up with something good. ;)

But for now, I love that it was a quick and easy project and it looks great in the space! And I never thought I would be a pallet wood kind of girl, but after seeing it all together I am already thinking of other projects I can make with it.

Do you have a pallet wood project you have done? Share with us! I can't wait to see what all the possibilities are! 

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