Pallet Antler Wall Art {Tutorial}

So, I lied. Last week I revealed my pallet antler wall art and told you guys that later in the week I would show you how I made it.

Well, clearly that never happened. Sorry about that.  I have a lot going on behind the scenes that I can’t wait to share with you guys soon. But, in the meantime, please accept my sincerest apology for lying. I know you guys were waiting on pins and needles for this tutorial, right {cough, cough}?

So let’s start, shall we?

I had a bunch of pallet wood I had gotten for free. Several of the boards were wider and there was a variety of darker and lighter wood colors. When I laid them all out, I actually really liked the look of having alternating colors of wood. So first thing I did was cut the boards down to size {or more like had someone cut them down for me…still afraid of power tools}.

I wanted to stain the already darker pieces of wood and make them a bit darker for even more contrast.

Someone told me that you can stain wood using steel wool and distilled vinegar. So I found a tutorial online and got everything I needed.

Let’s just say, this project didn’t exactly go as planned. I think my first problem was getting pink brillo pads. They were pink for breast cancer, but that was the only kind I could find at the store I went to.

You are supposed to soak the brillo pads in distilled vinegar for a bit and then swipe the pads onto your wood.

When I did that, the wood ended up turning super grey. Not at all the color I was going for. See exhibit A below.

But, the tutorial did say that you can soak some tea bags and paint the tea stain on top to make it less grey. The tea bags didn’t help my poor grey board at all though. If anything, it just made it even more grey.

So, I decided to flip the board over and just stain the wood with tea alone just to see what it would look like.

I actually really liked the color and went with that on all the darker boards.

Here’s what the three boards looked like post stain next to the lighter boards.

I thought it gave it just a little bit more color like I wanted but wasn’t too dark.

For the back, I also had someone cut down a few thicker boards to brace the wood. One lesson that I’ve learned in the past when working with pallet wood is that it strips super easily. So luckily I had some pretty sturdy pieces of wood and opted to use those on the back to hopefully avoid stripping.

I also learned the hard way that it is actually important to get the proper length in screws. Based on my measurements, which were clearly wrong, I got 1.5″ screws. I had the hardest time drilling those screws in and getting the boards to all stay together. For some reason I was only thinking screws came in 1.5″ and 2″ sizes. In case you were wondering, they do actually have 1.75″ screws. Who knew! That size was perfect and made it much easier to put the whole thing together.

The white frame I used on top of the wood was originally a black frame that I got from Ikea. Just gave it a few coats of white spray paint.

I just added a few screws to the front to hang the frame.

The antlers came from Target. The first time I saw them I didn’t end up buying them.  But, the next time I was there, I saw them again and there was only one left so I took it as a sign and impulse bought them.

I didn’t exactly have a place in mind for them, but once I started putting this project together I thought it might be fun to add the antlers to the inside of the frame.

I just popped on a few screws in the center of the frame for the antlers to hang.

And that’s it! Pallet antler wall art complete.

To hang it, I actually just used a wire picture hanger that holds up to 50 pounds. I failed to take a picture of the back once that was attached. Oops!

But, it is safely hanging over my bed and none of it has landed on my head in the middle of the night thus far.

I would call that a success!

Have you ever had a project not turn out like the tutorial and you ended up improvising? I’m actually glad the distilled wool didn’t work out, because I’m kind of digging the tea stain look more! What do you think?

Linking up to: Home Stories A to Z, Uncommon, Shabby Creek Cottage, Liz Marie, Serenity Now, My Repurposed Life

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