Y’all probably know by now that I love working with pallets. Each piece of wood tells a unique story and the dings and dangs add so much character to whatever we end up making. Some pieces are completely wonky and filled with holes and others are almost perfect. We have a HUGE stockpile of pallets just waiting to be used in some project. There are also lots of bits lying around that are beyond saving. They’re either full of nails that we couldn’t get out or as crooked as a politician. Those politically bent pieces usually end up in the fire. Or, if inspiration strikes, they make awesome little works of art. These small decor bits were made using one of those political pallets.
Pallet wood comes in all shapes and sizes so you kinda have to plan around that. If you don’t have any pallets you can use any off cuts of wood too.
But before we get to the quick tutorial, do me a favor and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. And don’t forget to subscribe so you’ll never miss a post!
How To Use Pallet Off-cuts to Make Art
We found the gorgeous tiles at a craft shop a while back and I originally thought I’d use them in a mosaic, but it never happened for some reason. If you don’t have any pretty tiles lying around you can always make your own with this tutorial.
It’s not that obvious in the pic but the one end of the pallet piece is about 2 cm thicker than the other and it had tons of rusty nails on the one side that we had to cut off. They were impossible to get out. BTW, save those nails to make this homemade aging wood stain.
We gave the pallet a light sand to get rid of any splinters and clean it up a bit. Not too much. You still want that gorgeous rusticness to show.
Use the tiles to figure out how to cut the pallets. Fortunately the tiles are quite small so we could cut pieces in between those awful nails.
The pallet pieces were stained a charcoal grey to protect and seal them.
Once the stain dried it was time to glue on the tiles.
That’s it. The little tile with the birds went onto a pallet bit that still had one of the nails protruding from it’s side. It added such a nice touch I had to try figure out how to do the same for the other two pieces.
We ended up screwing on an old hinge that we’d taken off the room dividers on one of the pallet scraps…..
….and a horseshoe on the taller one.
I would love to know what you think. How do you use up your pallet scraps?
The little arty, politically correct, pallet bits are currently outside on our patio. For now. I think I’m going to take them down to our round house by the sea. Mmmmmmhhhhh, or maybe I can make some more……….
If you like the idea don’t forget to pin it for later
Oh and if you’re looking for some of the things we used, we’ve got you covered. Disclosure: Clicking on the links below, means we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us come up with more amazing craft ideas to share with you ;-)
Until next time, hope you have a beautiful, creative week. Thank you for popping in for a visit.
Last update on 2026-04-15 / Source Amazon Affiliates
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