Pyramidal Reclaimed Wood Wall Art

Dimensions: Roughly 23 inches square, 3.25 inches thick; Weight 8 pounds. This unique piece features 12 segments of reclaimed pallet wood stacked 6 layers high. Several visible nail holes/heads make it a bit rustic and the fact that it’s 3-D will make it literally stand out, no matter what wall you hang it on. This was the first piece of wall art I’ve made that is not basically flat, or two-dimensional, but I like it so much that I’ll probably make additional similar ones. It could be a nice feature piece on the wall in almost any room. The wall behind it might show some interesting shadows, depending on your lighting. The negative space keeps it from looking too heavy or bulky. Two D-rings are attached to the back, so all you need to hang it is a hammer and a couple of nails. $125. Click here to purchase.

The Story

Considering what to make from my abundant supply of salvaged pallet wood one day, I just started stacking pieces on top of one another in various ways and quickly developed the vision for this final design. My wife Stephanie said she liked it, so I made a more detailed sketch and went for it. A key idea was to have an open square in the middle, roughly the same size as the width of the pallet wood, and which would echo the overall square shape. From that decision, the rest of the work flowed pretty easily and quickly. In choosing which pieces of wood to place where, I first aimed for both a good deal of variation in grain tone and pattern. I had belt-sanded all the wood first, so I knew what the grain looked like. Second, I aimed for symmetry—note how the same wood is used on both sides of a given level, and even the nail holes/heads appear in the same relative position on opposite sides). Starting with the top/central layer, I just had to stack a new layer below it in the other direction, measure, mark, and cut the pieces to length. I did some final hand-sanding, mainly just to slightly round off the edges. Working from behind, with the pieces upside-down, I assembled it with glue and two 1-inch wood screws in each of the 20 stacked corners. The last step was to apply some clear (“Natural”) Watco Danish Oil to help protect the wood and especially to bring out its natural color and accent the grain patterns.

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