diy: pallet picture frame

We were driving around downtown a few weeks ago and found an old pallet laying on the side of the road so we picked it up and brought it home.  I've been wanting to make a picture frame out of old pallets or fence wood so it was perfect timing! It's actually an easier project than it looks. It's a little time consuming, but easy! I thought I would share how you can make your own.

Here are the supplies you will need:

-6 slats of pallet wood (or any other kind of wood)

-craft paint in your choice of colors (I used "Robins Egg" from Michaels and Americana "Beached Sand")

-craft paint brush

-sand paper

-cheap frame (mine came from Dollar Tree)

-liquid nails or wood glue

-wood screws

-1 slat of wood (can be purchase for $1 at Home Depot or Lowes)

Before you actually make the frame, you'll need to cut your pallet wood down to the sizes and amount you need. I say 6 to make 4 regular sized slats and 2 to cut directly down the middle to get 3 half sizes. All together this gives you 4 wide and 3 skinny. Of course, you can make how ever many you want depending on how big or small you want it.

Step 1: After wood has been cut, sand all the pieces until they are mostly smooth.

Step 2: Paint your wood with the craft paint (it took me 2 coats of paint on each slat).

Step 3: Paint the picture frame (it took me 5 coats of paint to get it fully covered since it's a cheap plastic frame).

Step 4: After the wood is completely dry, turn them over, putting them in the order that you want them. You'll need to take your purchased slat of wood and cut it in half and place one piece on top and one on the bottom (these will brace your wood together). Place a screw into the wood for every slat you have. You'll need to do this on the top and bottom (see photo). After getting the frame together I turned it over and used sand paper to sand some of the paint off the slats.

Step 5: Place liquid nails on the back of the plastic frame and adhere to the pallet frame.

One thing to note is that I did not make a way for the photo to be changed out every few months so if you plan on being able to change the photo often I suggest you cut out a square in the center of the wood frame so you can get to the back of the plastic photo frame.

And that's it! Enjoy!