Rustic DIY Pallet Wood Hearts + Free Templates

With every new woodworking project is also born a new pile of scraps. It’s just the way things go. But the good news is that scraps can be so very useful still! Whether your scrap pile comes from project leftovers, salvaged pallet wood, or a neighbor’s blown-over fence (we had permission, promise!), there are great ways to put those scraps to work. Today, Sarah is back (remember her awesome pergola and outdoor chandelier?) to show her latest easy project: rustic pallet wood hearts. 

So perfect for Valentine’s Day, or really any day, since love is always in fashion, right? I love the dry aged paint look Sarah gave them as well for the perfect rustic style. Scroll down to get the full directions and templates from Sarah, and since you’ll be digging through the scrap pile anyway, grab a few extra boards to build some of these scrap projects, too — just click the photo to see each tutorial.

Here’s Sarah — give her a warm welcome back and be sure to pay her site a visit for more great projects!

DIY Rustic Pallet Hearts + Templates

from Sarah at The Created Home

My most popular post of 2016 was pallet pumpkins. Really, guys? I mean, I built a pretty freaking awesome cabin playhouse (ahem, if I do say so myself) but no, you all love the simple pallet pumpkins.

So at the risk of becoming the pallet lady I’m going to show you how to make these super simple pallet hearts. I don’t mind being known as the reclaimed wood lady, for the record. That I can live with.

DIY Rustic Pallet Hearts Supplies and Tools

For this project all you will need is

• 4 or 5 pallet boards. Or fence boards. Or whatever you have.
• A pen or pencil
• As template (included below)
• A jigsaw (or a band saw)
• A drill
• Some screws (10-12 ought to do it)
• A sander (not essential, strictly speaking)
• A couple strips of thin wood for backers

Templates

I have provided three different heart templates for you. They were drawn on legal size paper, so you might need to print out a few more pieces to make it all fit.

Large Heart  |  Medium Heart  |  Small Heart

How to make a rustic pallet heart

This is going to be the world’s shortest tutorial, because it really is a nice, simple project.

Start with boards. Pallet boards, fence boards, whatever boards. I pulled this pile to work on the scrap wood hearts I recently shared, and used the same pieces for the pallet hearts.

Line up the boards the way you want them and trace the template. You can see that the end pieces can be pretty small. Next simply cut them out with a jigsaw (or a bandsaw if you like). Sorry, I don’t have a photo of that. It’s hard to run the jigsaw and take photos at the same time.

Flip the heart over. Cut the wood strips so that they extend across all of the pieces that make up the heart. I like to use two, and if needed, a smaller third.

Run a sander over the edges to smooth it out. If you want to leave the wood natural that is it – you’re done!

…Or add some color if you like. I brushed this red on fairly lightly, then went back over it quickly with the sander to even it out and bring out the texture of the boards.

…Or whitewash for even more texturey goodness.

I get a lot of requests to show how I whitewash. Here’s a brief on-the-fly video I took of the process I use.

It’s fun to play with some different styles and use them together in your decorating. They also make great gifts!

Just look at that beautiful texture…

There you have it! A simple, frugal Valentine’s idea. Or, really, for any time of the year. Thanks for reading, and happy building!

Remodelaholics, be sure to check out Sarah’s fun quilted wood hearts (she has the extras for sale if you’d rather not build, too):

and if you haven’t already seen her awesome playroom — go check it out, it will make you wish you were a kid again!