DIY Scrap Wood Wall Art

I’ve been wanting to make some more custom wall art for my new apartment, but can only use what I have on hand because shopping for new lumber has been really difficult. So, I challenged myself to use some leftover plywood and reclaimed pallet wood to create an adorable set of diamond shape wood wall art pieces!

How To Make DIY Wood Wall Art

This post is sponsored by Bernzomatic and contains affiliate links. For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Want to see this project in action? Check it out on my YouTube channel!

I know you guys are probably sick of me talking about my new apartment, but I am so close to being able to share it with you all! At this point it’s just time to add the finishing touches, like custom artwork… and let’s be real… plants. Lots and lots of plants.

But, before I spill the beans on my space and remind you all of my plant addiction, let’s jump into how I made these diamond-shaped art pieces with torched wood accents!

What You’ll Need:

Tools
Miter Saw
Table Saw (Optional)
Brad Nailer
Circular Saw
Bernzomatic TS4000
Bernzomatic Propane Tank
Sander
Straight Edge
Wood Clamps
Painting Materials
Staining Materials
Tape Measurer

Materials
¾” Plywood
Scrap Pallet/Reclaimed Wood
Grey Stain
White Paint
Wood Glue
1″ Brad Nails
Picture Hooks

The Steps:

1. Cut your plywood into diamond shapes. I chose to (of course) make my life a bit difficult here and free handed my diamond design. I ended up making a diamond that had 13″ sides and was cut at 22 ½ degree angles.

2. Next, I prepped my reclaimed pallets. I ripped them into 1 ¼” strips and kept the excess ¾” cut offs for accents later. 

3. Next, it was time to prep the diamonds for the designs. I started by marking the center of the boards and then using my straight edge to create a grid to lay out my pieces.

4. Once I was ready to design, I had to choose the angle I wanted my pieces to be. Of course, I made my life difficult again and chose to cut my first row of pieces at 40 degrees (if you want a piece that will fit together flawlessly, use 45 degree angles for all of your geometric cuts – here’s a project I used that technique with).

I didn’t worry too much here about making sure they fit perfectly, because I’ll be trimming the overhang later (you can see another example of how I did this on my Ombre Wood Art Project).

5. After I was happy with my first horizon, I began to paint, stain, and de-stress my pieces before assembling. I did this using three different techniques: painting pieces, staining pieces, and torching pieces using my Bernzomatic TS4000.

I love how rich and organic the torching made the pieces look. It brought out all of the rough sawn features and looked so organic.

6. After letting the pieces dry, I attached the first horizon of pieces using wood glue and brad nails.

7. Next, it was time to work on filling in the remaining spots! Because I used an unconventional angle for the first row, I had to do some guesswork for the remaining pieces. To do this, I used a pre-cut piece of wood and marked the overhang with a pencil (you can see this in action in my Youtube video).

I then brought it over to the miter saw to find the angle. The angle ended up being about 50-ish degrees or so. But, don’t quote me on this! It’s better to double check this angle and do what works for you and your piece!

8. As I fit my pieces on these ends of the piece, I trimmed a few pieces on my miter saw to create some fun shapes. I made sure to use the same angles for all of my cuts to help the design flow and fit (make sure to check out my YouTube video to see this step in action).

9. I then torched, painted, and stained these pieces once I was happy with the design.

10. Next, I glued and nailed the pieces to the board.

11. I then repeated all of these steps for a second piece, since I had enough lumber!

12. Once my art pieces were complete, I flipped them over and used a circular saw/track saw with a straight-edge guide to trim the art pieces along the edge of the plywood.

13. I then used old cutoffs from a 2×4 project (I told you I was a scrap hoarder) to create boarders for the art piece. Again, I had to do some creative problem solving here to figure out my angles, but I did this the same way as the geometric pieces. My angles were so strange (again, you can avoid this by using straight forward angles) and ended up coming out to 36.6 and 57 degrees.

Once they were cut, I attached the borders to the pieces using brad nails and wood glue.

14. Last step was to attach picture hanging hooks and hang in my new apartment!

I have made a few geometric art pieces in the past, but these are my new favorites!

The torched accents and geometric shapes seriously help them pop!

I cannot wait to share my new space with you guys next week!

Until then, make sure to Pin This project for later!

See you all soon!