Pallet Flag DIY

Pallet Flag DIY

June 24, 2017

I am so so so excited to share my very first DIY project with you all! Fourth of July is coming up and I wanted to add something to our home to make it look more festive. I remembered seeing these Pallet Flags on Pinterest and in some cute antique stores in the area and after thinking it through, I thought it would be a perfect project to make a patriotic addition to our front yard. Look how cute it turned out!
 

The finished product!

Y'all I'm not kidding, this was so easy to make. I was able to complete it with only one run to the craft store and one nap time!

In this post, I'm going to walk you through the steps of making this flag so you can add one to your yard, patio, deck, wherever! (Or, if you're interested in having me make one for you, shoot me an email and I'll help you out!) It makes the perfect addition to show support and love for our country and to remember to be grateful for all that we have this time of year. 

SUPPLIES:

For this project you need the following: a pallet, red, white, and blue craft paint, and a 1 1/2" paint brush, a 1" paint brush, and a detail paint brush.

These are the paints I used (Am I the only one
who thinks its ironic the blue I used is called
English Navy?

These are the brushes I used: a small detail, 1",
and 1 1/2". 

DIRECTIONS:

For my pallet, I was able to spot one on the loading dock of the craft store I went to buy my paint from and was allowed to take as many as I wanted for free! Because my car is small, I only took the one half-sized pallet for this project but I think I will definitely be looking there again if I need another. I'll just have my hubby bring his truck!

Before you start, make sure you are painting on a surface that you don't mind if it get paint on it. I used the old carpet on my back porch and was super careful. 

As far as preparing your pallet, you want to make sure it's dry. If you paint it wet, the paint won't bond well. I was going for a rustic look and definitely not clean and polished so I didn't sand it down or anything. 

First step: red!

1. Your first step is to paint the red stripes of your flag. Remember to leave room for the field of navy and stars! The half pallet I used had a piece of wood that ran down the middle so I used that as my guide. Then I painted every other plank of wood red with my 1 1/2" brush and red paint.

2nd step: white!

2. Your second step is to paint the planks you left blank white. Just like you did with your red stripes, be sure to leave space for the field of blue! I washed and dried the same 1 1/2" brush and then used it to paint the white stripes. If you use the same brush, be sure to get out ALL the red paint- you don't want streaks!

Brush change for the stars

3. For your next step you want to change your brush to the smaller 1". Still using the white paint, you paint on your stars. Again, I wanted to have a more rustic looking finished product so I didn't use a stencil or stamp. If you want all of your stars to look exactly the same I would highly recommend you use one of those methods. I also decided to only paint as many stars as I could fit comfortably in the areas I had available. Unless the stars were only an inch big, there was no way I was fitting 50 of them in the space I had. I settled on nine so the flag still looked dignified and not messy, but this again is just my personal preference. You can make this flag your own- personalize it the way you want!

Here's a picture of how my stars turned out. 

Finished stars

Step 4: Field of blue.

4. It's time to add our blue! Once again, I used the same brush for the white paint so before I painted the blue I washed and dried the brush so I didn't have streaks. I was also very careful with the blue paint to not touch the white stars because if i did, the paints would mix and look messy. A simple way to not worry about this happening would be to wait for your stars to dry before you add the blue. I was on a time crunch trying to finish before my son woke up so I didn't wait. I did touch up some of my unpainted spots in the next step.

Step 5: Time for touch-ups

5. I wanted to touch up some of the spaces between the field of blue and the white stars so I grabbed a small, coarse, stencil brush and touched up my blue where I needed to. 

All done!

After you touch up any spaces you might have missed, you are all finished! Again, I didn't want this to look absolutely impeccable and perfect so there are still some in-between spots that I am completely fine with. If you want your project crisp and polished I would recommend sanding down the surface of the pallet you will be painting first so it is smooth and you should use a stencil for your stars and paint with smooth, great condition brushes for the cleanest lines. 

So pretty!

All in all, I am SO happy with how my pallet flag turned out and can't wait to take pictures of my little one next to it for Independence Day! I hope you enjoy your own pallet flag and use it to celebrate with your friends and family. Feel free to comment or message me with your thoughts or questions on this project. Also remember, if you would like to have one of these for your own home and don't have the time to make one yourself, let me know! I'd love to make one for you to enjoy. 

Lots of love and hugs,

Sarah