"Reclaimed Barn Wood" Sign From A Pallet

This was such a fun project to see come together. I have been wanting to add a few well loved/rustic touches to our space to give it a more collected look. Thanks to the hubby I had a couple of pallets sitting in the garage just waiting to be transformed. And thanks to my constant need to paint things, I have a nice collection of paint just waiting to be used. If you have read my Christmas Decor Tour post or my Living Room Reveal post then you have already got a look at this beauty.

This is a really simple project, but I totally underestimated the amount of time it was going to take me to dismantle this pallet. I figured 15 minutes would be more than enough time, um yeah, try an hour plus two torn up knuckles later and I finally had a pile of usable wood. (Note to self: New pallets that have barely been used do not come apart very easily.) Here is the before picture of my shiny new pallet.

Once I finally had the pallet torn apart, I laid two of the boards from the center of the pallet on the floor and then laid out all the thinner slat pieces across the top. Once I had them laid out how I wanted, I screwed the slat pieces to the two boards below them..

Here is the first step to making your new wood sign into old reclaimed wood sign. Give the entire sign a good coat of dark grey paint (I used the dark graphite color from our master bedroom), you could also add a few touches of dark brown if you feel so inclined. The wood is going to soak the paint up, but don't worry if the coverage is not even (that adds to the imperfect rustic feel).

Next step, dry brushing a very light coat of white paint over your base color. This brings out the texture of the wood and gives the boards a weathered barn board appearance. I stopped after this step, but you could go back over a few spots with sand paper to add more wear to the look of the wood.

Currently I have a monogram wreath hanging on my "Reclaimed Barn Wood" sign. I am trying to decide if I will ultimately paint a quote on it, or maybe just leave it as a place to showcase artwork and be able to change it out without putting new holes in the walls. It's a great feature on our piano and is going to be a great addition to our space.

So what do you think, does it pass for looking like old reclaimed barn wood? Have you done any projects with pallets or reclaimed wood in your home?