I don’t do many DIY posts because if you remember my Tile Coaster post from years ago it does not always go well for me. People don’t read instructions. I have received the most comments on this post of all of my posts over the 11 years I have been blogging and it is ridiculous. As a matter of fact I got a comment just last week about this post. It makes me laugh.

I have had some ideas running around in my head for awhile. We had a pallet from a delivery of stone that I saved. Then the last week when we got our heat pump replaced I got two more smaller pallets that were brand new and in great shape that I asked the HVAC men to leave for me. So since they were cluttering up our yard I decided I needed to finally do something with them.

It was a really productive week for us around the house and we got a lot of projects done, carpets cleaned, garage straightened up a bit and things identified to discard, donate, sort, etc. Probably not the best time to be staring a pallet project but I did and Chris managed to work around me. I scoured Pinterest for ideas and knowing my lack of artistic ability I decided on an easy project.

I selected a design that was simple and lightly sanded the pallet before painting with a water based paint. I made it simple by using just one color for the entire pallet. Coverage can be light and not perfect so that the grain of the wood can show through making it more rustic.

I used stencils for the lettering, a bowl for the circles in the middle of the flowers and a petal drawn on cardboard to trace around. The entire process was pretty simple. I used several coats of paint for the yellow petals since they were on top of the red. I used a chip brush to paint and it all came together really easily. I added a little fence and some cut out wood pieces from Hobby Lobby on the bottom and simply super glued them on. I think it made the piece come together.

The final piece included 3 tin cans that I spray painted black, pounded a hole in the back of each to tie a piece of twine which then attached the can to nails pounded on the finished piece. A few scraggly marigolds adorn it now but hopefully I can find some better looking plants to put in that the deer will leave alone.

All in all I am happy with the piece. It is now leaned up against the side of garage that you see when you drive down our driveway where I am trying to build up the area a bit. When we bought the house 4 years ago this section was just trashy so planting a few Hellebore plants (deer will not eat these) and lavender and adding a few focal pieces makes coming down the driveway a little prettier. It’s whimsical and rustic and cute and I am already planning my next pallet project.

What do you think? Have you ever done any pallet projects? Tell me all about it and Comment for a Cause for Friends of DuPont Forest. Each comment on any blog post this month means a 50 cent donation to our charity.