Pallet Pictures DIY

In this blog, we’ll go over the simple steps to building your own beautiful wood pallets and creating pallet pictures! This is one of my absolute favorite DIY projects! It makes a great gift for friends and family too! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Special Notes

Before you get started, there are a few notes that I would like to share because they can greatly affect the outcome of your project. I would encourage you to read all of the instructions before you get going, but these notes are top on my list of “things to consider” before you jump in.

You’ll see that I made my pallet 28” tall even though my photo was a 20” (W) x 30” (H). This was done on purpose because you will want to have room to adjust your photo up and down to have a desirable outcome with the gaps. In other words, if you have a photo with people in it and you didn’t leave any wiggle room, you may have someone’s eyes fall right in a gap between two boards and this would not be a desirable spot. So, by making your pallet slightly smaller than your photo, it allows you some room to adjust up and down, as needed. (Pics in instructions will explain this further.)

When choosing how wide to cut your boards, you have the option of cutting your boards to the exact width of your photo. I personally like the look of the stained edge on the pallet, but it’s totally up to your preference. Lazy Tip: I cut off the stamped edges of my wood before I cut my boards so that I don’t have to try to sand the stamp off later. I also take a few extra moments to pick my boards with care. You want straight boards (no warping), and as few cracks, holes, and knots as possible.

When choosing a spacer tool to use for creating and measuring gaps between pallet boards, I opted to go with a smaller tool, creating smaller gaps. You’ll see as you read down in the instructions that everywhere that there is a gap, that part of the photo is actually removed (cut out), so the larger the gaps, the more of your photo that you will actually lose. I preferred to go with a smaller gap to save more of my photo. My tool of choice was a thin, long bottle opener (see photos in instructions).

Materials

3 – 1” x 4” x 8’ Common Pine Boards
- Cuts: 1x4x22” (qty: 8)
- Cuts: 1x4x27” (qty: 3)
Safety Gear for Sanding & Staining
- Respirator Mask w/Cartridges
- Nitrile Exam Gloves
- Safety Glasses
1/4 Sheet Power Sander
100 Grit Sandpaper
Stain – I use Minwax Special Walnut
Stain Rag – I use an old t-shirt ripped into 4-5 pieces of smaller strips.
Stain Rag Disposal Supplies
Screws – 1 ¼” Wood Screws
Power Drill/Screwdriver
Mod Podge
Drip Cloth or Old Towel
20” x 30” Matte Print *Vertical* Photo (Available Same Day at Wal-Mart)
1” Paintbrush
Box Cutter or Scalpel (Take extra precaution with these very sharp tools!)
Scratch-Proof Squeegee
Spacer Tool – A spacer tool can really be anything that you can use to keep the spacing in between your pallet boards a consistent size. I used a bottle opener that was long and slender to slide between each of my boards before I drilled them down.

Instructions

Step One: Because we will be building your pallet from the back, take each of your 22” boards and determine which side of the board is the best suited for the front of the pallet (the photo side) and lay it face-down (as pictured). So, if you have big knots, deep marks, or any other blemish that may make a board less desirable, make sure that side is face-up for this step.

Step Two: Now that you have your best boards face down, line them up as pictured. Then, lay your 27” boards vertically down the pallet. You should have one on each side and one in the middle. I usually leave some room on the sides to make it look more like a pallet (see photo).

My little blessing built a wood fort and race car track while mommy built pallets.
I love being a boy mom!

Step Three: Get all of your 22” boards lined up as well as possible and begin to screw together your pallet (see photo below). Start with the bottom board. Place one screw in each vertical board where it intersects the bottom horizontal board, ideally centering the screw in the middle of the board to prevent splitting. Using your spacer tool, create the appropriate size gap between the bottom 22” board and the next board up. Again, place one screw in each vertical board where it meets this board. Repeat with the next board up until you have worked your way all the way up the pallet. You should end up with 24 screws in the back of the pallet (8 horizontal boards x 3 vertical boards = 24 intersections). Note: You may have to work continually with your spacer during this step to assure that the boards don’t move as you are placing the screws. Pause and readjust as needed. Also remember to keep an eye on the edges of your 22” boards to make sure that they are lining up with the boards above and below them.

Your pallet at this point should be complete. Please know that mine is far from perfect and yours will probably not be perfect either, but homemade has its own charm!

Step Four: Using a 1/4 sheet sander and 100 grit paper, give your pallet a quick, but not super strenuous, sanding job. You are trying to remove any sharp edges or loose slivers of wood. You are also prepping the wood to absorb the stain that you will be applying in the next step. In this step, you can also sand down and minimize any differences in length where two 22” boards didn’t line up exactly right. When sanding, I always recommend wearing a good respirator mask with cartridges and eye protection. After sanding, dust off your wood in preparation for staining.

Step Five: Stain your pallet. Stain color is based on your preference, but I always encourage you to choose the color that will compliment the colors of your photo and fit in well with your overall décor. I do not recommend going heavy on the stain for this project. You will have to wait for the stain to fully dry before proceeding with the next step. When staining, I always recommend wearing a good respirator mask with cartridges, eye protection, and nitrile gloves. Also, stain rags, once used, are extremely flammable. Always follow the instructions on your stain to dispose of them properly.

Allow the stain to fully dry. I mean dry, dry, dry! Because this project involves a photo, you don’t want to chance that any of the stain is even remotely wet and can soak into your photo. I have let mine sit for a week before, but 1-2 days should be sufficient, depending on your stain drying times, the temperature, and how heavily you applied it.

Step Six: (NO cutting on this step!) Place a drip cloth or towel under your pallet. With the pallet facing up, take your 20×30 photo and determine where you want it positioned on the pallet. If you went with the recommended instructions, your pallet should be smaller (vertically) than your photo so that you can move it up and down for the optimal position. When you don’t have the wiggle room that a smaller pallet to larger photo ratio provides, you are stuck with cutting lines wherever they happen to fall (see my example below). A larger photo provides for a lot of wiggle room and hopefully you can get everything to line up better and we will take the step later to cut off the extra photo parts on top/bottom. It will never be ideal, but work with it until you get something that you like. One thing that helps me is to run my measuring tape across the pallet gaps/lines so that I can see exactly where they will fall, especially in sensitive areas like eyes, mouth, nose, etc. Once you have it positioned, do some measurements and make sure that your photo is even and level, then get your Mod Podge supplies ready to work with one end of the photo/pallet. Again, no cuts to the photo in this step – not even the overhang/excess.

Step Seven: Get all your supplies ready because you will need to work quickly during the next few steps. You will need your paintbrush, Mod Podge, and scratch-proof squeegee. You may also want to have a paper towel or washcloth nearby for cleaning your hands during the process. You photo should already be in place, but not secured down yet. Choose one end to work with. Taking special care to not move the placement of the photo itself, gently lift one end of the photo up and paint Mod Podge onto the bottom two horizontal pallet boards (see photo). Once they are fully covered with the Mod Podge, lower the bottom of the photo back down and make sure it returns to its original position. Again, taking special care to not move the overall photo placement, use the squeegee to run down the photo for the full length of the pallet board on bottom, squeezing out any excess Mod Podge and/or air bubbles. Repeat the process for the second board. Once you have completed this step, do one final quick measurement to make sure that the photo still lines up where you expected. This is truly your last opportunity for adjustments.

Step Eight: Spin your pallet to a position that will work best for you. Gently fold down the part of the photo that is not sealed down and cover every remaining pallet board with Mod Podge (see photo). Once you have adequately covered the pallet boards, return the photo to its original position and starting at one end, run the squeegee down the photo for the full length of each pallet board until you have completed the process for every board. Be sure the run the squeegee down the length of each pallet board one at a time. Do not use the squeegee vertically across several pallet boards. This will run the excess Mod Podge into the pallet gaps and cause a messy situation. This process should remove all excess Mod Podge and any air bubbles between your photo and the pallet boards.

Step Nine: Working quickly, pick up your paintbrush again and paint the Mod Podge over the photo, one pallet board at a time. Make long, clean brush strokes from one end of a board to the other end, taking care to fully coat the top of the photo with the Mod Podge. Mod Podge goes on white, but will dry clear. (See photos below.) Make sure to take the time to clean the sides and ends of the pallet and brush off any drip spots or Mod Podge collection areas. If you have excess photo hanging off your pallet board, I recommend that you run your paintbrush over the top of the overhanging part of the photo as well. This doesn’t glue the excess photo area to anything, but does seem to make the cutting process easier.

Finding the right amount of drying time is a bit of an art, but you’ll get the hang of it. You want your Mod Podge to dry, but not 100% fully dry. When Mod Podge is fully dry, it tends to flake when cut, so we want it almost fully dry so that we aren’t dealing with a goopy mess, but not dry enough to flake. You may have to deal with a goopy spot here or there…just keep a paper towel handy to wipe your cutting tool, if needed. I don’t recommend allowing the Mod Podge to sit overnight before cutting. You will know that the Mod Podge is almost fully dry when there are no longer any white areas on top of the photo. Drying times will depend on several factors, including how thick you layered the Mod Podge for your desired look and the temperature/humidity. Test an inconspicuous spot to see how the cutting goes and see if the photo is adequately sealed and dry before proceeding. Do not rush this step.

Step Ten: Slicing the gaps. Only do this step if you are confident that you can safely handle the sharp blade required to proceed with these instructions. I find that turning the pallet so that I am slicing in a downward manner works the best for me, but please find a position that is comfortable and safe for you. Pick one gap to start with. You’ll want to place the blade at one end of a gap and make a small cut. Then, with your blade in place, lean it against one side of the gap and run it down the entire length of that board. Then, go back to your start position and lean the blade against the other side of the gap and run it down the entire length of the board. In other words: Run your blade down both sides of every gap/space so that you end up with two lines being cut for each gap and a thin piece of photo being removed (see photo). Do not run your blade down the middle of the gap. Do not worry about perfection – we will be sanding every edge.

Step Eleven: Cut off the ends. This should be a fairly easy step if you have gotten the hang of slicing the photo with the previous step. Just lean your blade against wood (top or bottom of pallet) where it meets the excess portion of the photo and slowly and carefully slice down the photo until you have a fairly clean line where the photo meets the pallet. Again, don’t worry about perfection – we will be sanding every edge.

Step Twelve: Roughing it up. Your photo gaps/pallet gaps likely look a little rough right now, maybe a bit jagged or uneven, so we are going to make them look uniform by taking a piece of our 100-grit sandpaper and roughing them up. Fold your sandpaper in half and run it down each edge of every single gap. Try not to lay it against the top of the photo, but the edges of the photo are fine. You will end up with slightly white, distressed edges on all of your photo cuts. (See photo) Take a clean paper towel and wipe the sand dust off your photo pallet.