Wood Fence Crafts

Use fence boards or sections to make crafts and decor.

Use new or recycled fence posts or fence sections to create functional décor for the home or yard. You can create seasonal signs, office desk items and room décor or turn a fence into an inexpensive headboard to highlight a theme or color scheme in a bedroom.

Seasonal Signs

Use single boards or groups of boards as seasonal signs to display in the yard. For Christmas lighting, use a power drill to drill holes in the fence boards to create letters and words. Add small Christmas lights to the back of the sign so only the lit dots show from the front of the board. For a larger sign, attach boards together by drilling holes on the bottom and top of each board and attach them together using heavy twine or wire so they hang as a flexible sign. A large sign is easier to take apart and store this way. Make lit signs with favorite lines from the Christmas Story, or Christmas phrases such as “Joy to the World” or “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”.

You can also create directional signs such as Santa’s Workshop, North Pole, Pumpkin Patch, Egg Hunt or End of the Rainbow. Use a tall piece of two by four-inch post, two to four-inches long, depending on how tall you want the directional signpost to be. Nail small, directional seasonal signs made of fence slats or smaller cut pieces of fence slats to the post. Paint words that reflect the season.

Headboards

Give a room a country, woodsy or garden look with a fence headboard. Use a complete section of old fence boards or buy new ones. Use short, picket fencing for a little girl’s room, or tall boards for a dramatic adult headboard. Clean recycled fence pieces before you begin working with them. Sand the wood to remove rough splinters and pieces that are sticking up. Paint the boards in a color to match the room. Choose white fences for a fresh and clean look. Darker colors or stains will look woodsy or earthy. Paint the fence section black for a focal piece in a black and white bedroom.

Office or Library Decor

Make matching pieces for the desk. Build bookends, a paper holder or small boxes for office gear such as clips, rubber bands and business cards. Make a pencil and pen holder on set on top of the desk in a smaller version of the same style as the wastebasket. Cut squares of fence wood for coasters for tables and the desk.

Clean and sand the wood first. Remove any sharp pieces that are sticking up. Wipe off the loose sawdust. Cut four sidepieces and one bottom piece with a handsaw or table saw. Attach the pieces together with flat head nails and wood glue to keep the rustic look. Leave the wood in its natural state or paint it to match the color theme of the office or library.

References

• HGTV: Don't Fence Me In