I have an easy DIY for you today, one that requires no nails or screws and only a few cuts – chevron home decor!
Would you call these sculptures? Accents? Ornaments? I didn’t know what to file it under as I haven’t seen any on Pinterest anywhere – so for now it will just be wood chevron home decor and can be customized to any size, height, length and colours you want to fit your home and could go with any home decor that you decide to get if you decide to go decor shopping, for example, from somewhere like Such & Such as well as other places.
Best part – it’s made from scrap wood!
First up, find a few pieces of scrap wood that are approximately the same thickness. Not length or height, just thickness – and cut them on your mitre saw at a 22.5 degree angle down the middle.
Whatever the length of the boards, make a single cut in the middle.
Flip one of the boards so you have point to point and then line up your boards in a pleasing pattern.
Measure out 3 to 4″ on either side of centre and mark it in a couple of places. Trust me, the angle of the chevron and the varying widths of the wood tests your eyeballs and straight might not be as straight as you think. It’s better to have a marking on your chevron home decor near the top and another near the bottom and then connect them with a ruler for accuracy.
Cut on the line and then wood glue the boards together down the centre line and between rows.
If you have a clamp, clamp the boards on the sides until the glue has hardened. If you don’t have a clamp, press the boards against something solid along the cut side and then weight it down with something heavy.
Next up, find another couple pieces of scrap wood, approximately 3/4″ thick, and cut them to act as the bases for your chevron home decor. I played with a triangle and a rectangle to see if one was sturdier than the other; you can easily use a triangle base if your chevron home decor is pointing up and down. If you’re piece is going to run side-to-side (like an arrow), the rectangle board is more sturdy.
You can see above that I’ve already drilled a hole in the centre of each base – this hole is just slightly smaller than the dowel I’m using as the pedestal; in this case my dowel is 7/16″ and the hole I drilled was with a 5/8″ bit. You want the dowel to fit very snugly with no wiggle room whatsoever.
Repeat by clamping your chevron piece tightly, marking centre and drilling another 5/8″ hole into the wood, going in about 1/4″ to 1/2″ (not very deep or the wood will crack).
Cut your dowel to length using pruning shears.
Sand both ends of the dowel very lightly with 220 grit sandpaper – this will shave down it’s size slightly to it can be hammered into the base with a rubber mallet.
Fill the arrow base about 1/3 full with wood glue and insert the dowel and tap until it’s all the way inside your hole. Repeat on the base.
I painted early on and had to do touch-ups as I built my chevron home decor, so perhaps it is easier to wait until after your pieces are completely assembled – up to you.
If yours will be used as indoor decor, you really don’t need to varnish them – I like the warmth varnish gives to wood, so I opted to.
The colours I used were leftovers from my basement makeover (coming soon), so I know my chevron home decor coordinate exactly.
Forgive the yellowish lighting, it’s a basement that doesn’t get much natural light.
I could totally see these being sold at HomeSense or Marshall’s can’t you?
But why buy when you can make right? Easy, inexpensive and custom-sized and coloured!
Have a great one!
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