Scrap Wood Decor – Mini Houses

Do you have a garage (or workshop) with a stash of bits of wood?

Not big pieces, just bits and bobs that have been tucked into a corner after you or your Hubby built something?

Have I got a cute DIY/craft for you!

I’d seen these little houses on Pinterest and loved them immediately:

That $36 price tag was for one of these scrap wood decor houses – the turquoise one on the far right.

These little guys were my favourites – from Bloomingville.com.  I tried to look up the prices, but the catalogue doesn’t show any….  I’m going to guess here and say that it’s probably like an expensive restaurant; if they don’t show the prices, you can’t afford it.

No problem – time to gather up all those lurking scraps and create our own!

I’ll show you a trick (I learned the hard way) – you can make your roof cuts at any angle you want.  Flip the wood over and mark where the bottom of the angle is (see image).  I made the mistake of trying to find a centre point and then working my angles from there – which never worked out evenly.  The key is to mark where you want your roof to end and then line up the saw to meet that point.

This piece off wood is a bit small, and you run the risk of it shooting back at you, or off into the distance if you don’t cut straight down and straight back up.

You’ll never guess how I know this? lol

Now sanding all of these little blocks individually would be tedious – but since most of mine are the same depth, I was able to put them in a clamp and then sand the whole row of scrap wood decor at once.

I used 60 grit, then 120 then 220 grit.  I don’t think you’re supposed to jump levels quite that quickly, but I didn’t want to waste a ton of sand paper on scrap wood.  They turned out perfectly if you ask me?

You could go minimalist and line your scrap wood decor / scrap wood houses up in your window just like this.

But I had an East Coast friend on my mind, and decided to make row houses like you’d find in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland or PEI.

I made a set of white and wood-stained ones as well, for what I call a Scandinavian minimalist look.

The tiny windows I cut with the Silhouette machine, but could easily have been drawn on with a Sharpie.

A coat of varnish and you’re done!

I altered a couple of the angles to give the rooves different pitches, but rotating a block will also create a different look – see the brown one?

Too cute!

Scrap wood, leftover paint, some sandpaper and a sharpie marker are all you really need.

Heck, once the cuts are done, you can bring the kids in and let them make their own village.

These would be great with a train set, or racing set.  Unbreakable and inexpensive.

Have fun with this scrap wood decor; create fairy houses, skyscrapers, cottages- you are limited only by your imagination!

Have a great one!

Linked to:

• Between Naps on the Porch
• Burlap & Babies
• Skip to my Lou
• Tatertots & Jello

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