Wood & Cloth-Quick Project-Natural Stick Decor Panel

I LIKE going into a store and seeing something I like that I think I might be able to make myself.  I LOVE it when that item is priced ridiculously expensive, like gold-plated diamond expensive, and I can make it for 10 bucks. 

Seriously I am not sure who gets to set the price for home décor items, but I want that job. 

Unfortunately I don’t tend to be delusional have at a pretty good grip on reality.  Also I am pretty sure that those jobs go to millionaires or the cast members on the Real Housewives of Orange County.  Who else would look at 2 pieces of wood spray painted hot pink with a dash of glitter and think….That only costs 200 dollars, I’ll take 2.

Project Ranking

Difficulty – Easy

Frustration – Moderate

Makeability – 100% worth it

The project was semi-frustrating only because I did choose to use wavy/twisted sticks.  It was a bit of a pain to get the sticks separated from each other.

Materials

Natural sticks of some sort
-I used wavy sticks but straight would work just as well

Scrap wood
-We screwed together 2 2x6’s to get the height we wanted because that is the scrap wood we had on hand.

Step 1: If you are putting together 2 pieces of wood you will need to either glue or screw them together.  If you use 2x6 or similar you will need to add a bit of wood filler between the 2 pieces where the edges curve and sand it down to a nice smooth surface.

Step 2: Determine the placement of the holes for your sticks.  As you can see in the picture we went with 4 rows offset from each other with 1 inch between each hole.  The offset helps the piece look “fuller” as not all of the sticks will line up directly behind one another.   Depending on the length and width of your board and the spacing of your holes you will potentially need a ton of sticks so remember to calculate the number of sticks needed.  In total we had 70 holes. 

Step 3: Figure out the diameter of the sticks you are using and find a drill bit slightly bigger than your biggest stick.  I ended up putting 2 sticks in some of my holes as I had some sticks in my package that were smaller than most.  You will also need to determine how deep you want to drill your holes.  We put our down about 2 inches.  They should be deep enough that your sticks don’t just fall over.  

It should be noted that the husband wanted credit on this project as a Wood & Cloth project as he did prep the wood and drill the holes…

Step 4: Paint your wood piece. 

Step 5: Hot glue in your sticks.  The method I used was to put the stick in the hole, get it in the position I wanted, and then squeeze glue around the stick on all sides.  I would then gently lift the stick up and down a bit to get the glue to go down the hole.  You will want to hold your stick in place until the glue sets up a bit or else it will tip over.   With the wavy sticks I did try to make sure I didn’t have the turns all facing the same way.  Again this helps the piece look fuller.

I really like the way it turned out but I do wish it was a tad bit taller.  I am most likely going to have to find some small wall art piece to put above it as the wall still looks a smidgen bare.  It does however totally fit in with the safari/Panama Jack type vibe I am try to get going in the study.