Wood Pallet Art

The early 1920s saw the introduction of the first pallets and skids. Prior to this, wooden crates and barrels were generally used to gather, store, protect and move merchandise. Today pallets are used for everything from material handling to being re-purposed as art and furniture. I know that painting on pallets is not an original idea, but I saw this pallet on the side of the road and couldn’t pass it up. It was pretty clean and in great condition.

In addition to being a roadside scavenger, I am also a Carolina girl. I have lived in Charlotte, North Carolina most of my life, but love traveling to Charleston, South Carolina. My goal was to create a simple piece of wall art out of the roadside pallet in honor of the Carolinas.

Once the pallet was home, I cleaned it really well. Then, I gave it a simple white wash with left over white paint and water mixture.

While the pallet dried, I hunted for images of North and South Carolina on the internet. I found a simple map, enlarged the size of the states and a printed a copy. Once the state templates were cutout, I positioned them on the pallet and taped them to trace. I also turned the pallet so that the wooded slats were vertical to counter balance the horizontal shape of North Carolina .

With a ballpoint pen, I traced the templates. I decided to create a divide between NC and SC so it would not look like a giant blob.

My husband and I have a paint color that we lovingly call “our blue”. The color is “Smokey Slate” by Behr. We have used the color on bedrooms, bathrooms and it is currently the color of the walls of my office. So, I decided to use “our blue” to paint the states of the pallet. With a tiny paint brush I traced the edges, and then filled in the rest with a larger paint brush. The pallet wood is pretty thirsty so, it took about 4 coats.

Here is is the finished piece… Nice. So, my fellow roadside scavengers, what kind of wood pallet art have you created?

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Carmody Tisdale