Scavenger Chic

Beach Decor, Scrap Wood Frame DIY

• By Joan
• April 14, 2021
• 1 Comment

Beach Decor, Scrap Wood Frame

No new babies to announce today, but I am back with another upcycled frame. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, 3 of my last frames have been grandbaby announcements.

This one is made from pallet and other scrap wood.  If you don’t have all the ingredients for this frame, cruise on to the bottom of this post for a bunch more upcycled frames.

One project always leads to another.  This one started out with this (A) mat wall which we took down in order to repaint the basement. You know I don’t enjoy throwing things away so I used a bunch of the 1×3’s to trim out my Billy bookcase desk

Only problem was, I didn’t need 1×3’s, I needed 1×2’s and the black trim happened to have nice rounded edges which I also didn’t need, I wanted them squared off.  So here (B) I get out the table saw and I chop off those nice rounded edges.  Perfect, my 1×3’s are now 1×2’s.

But I’m looking at the rounded skinny pieces I chopped off and they look just like molding you would buy to finish off an edge.  Maybe I could use it on the shelves of my Billy Bookcases.  So I painted and sanded the edges, held them up (C) to my bookcase and decided that my beautiful new edge pieces made very little impact on my project.

So here I am (D) stuck with a pile of nicely painted and sanded edge pieces waiting for a home.

After a week of mulching and yard work that pile of edge pieces is what I see when I started looking for a fairly easy project to post this week.

I don’t know what you see in this pile, but I saw frame.

Basic supplies for this project are a piece of 5×7 glass, hopefully from an old frame  (Dollar store frame??), pallet wood, trim pieces, strips of mdf  and Gorilla glue clear adhesive.

Lay out your pattern to see how large your pallet backing needs to be.  Measure.

I left a 2 1/2″ border around the glass,

Cut the pallet wood backing.  Mine is about 15×17″.

Sand the pallet wood to get rid of the worst of the nubs and splinters.

The edging strips were already painted and sanded because I had intended to use them on the shelf edges.  Now it was just a matter of cutting them to fit the 15×17″ pallet wood.

Start with the outer edge first, working your way inward.

All cut but nothing is attached just yet.  If you have any rough ends, sand them now.

I numbered my edge pieces just in case I mixed them up because we’re going to do just a little disassembly.

Use white wax to give a driftwood appearance to the pallet wood.  Paint on, messy is fine, then use a rag or paper towel to spread the wax out evenly.  I also white waxed the middle border pieces.

If you don’t have white wax, watered down white paint, a whitewash, will work just as effectively.

I just happened to have 2 jars of white wax because twice, when I’ve gone to pick up white chalk paint, I’ve grabbed the wax instead.  Yes, I’ve done it twice! Ugh!  Having said that, it does give a nice effect.  So it’s all good. 🙄 

Finally ready for gluing.  I used a bead of Gorilla Glue Clear Grip  to attach the strips to the border of the frame  then further secured with brads from my Dewalt Heavy-Duty Aluminum Stapler/Brad Nailer. Allow the glue to dry.

You could leave the frame as is, but the sides seem a little unfinished with the edges of the pallet wood showing.

In the interest of using even more of my scrap wood, I cut strips of 1/4″ mdf to 1 3/8″ widths.  Painted with semi-gloss white trim paint.

Use the same gorilla glue and small brads to attach the white trim to the frame.

 Turn Button Screws for Hanging Pictures hold the pictures and glass in place.

Perfect for beach decor, family pictures, baby’s room, gallery wall…

Until next time, stay inspired.

….If you need even more inspiration, I have lots more upcycled DIY frames….

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DIY Upcycled Frame and a New Baby Pallet Wood and Tin Roofing Shingles Frame diy Easy Pallet Wood Frame diy Pallet Wood, Shutters and Thingamajigs