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Wood wall art is one of my favorite types of decor. I love that you can get so creative with your designs while adding in some warmth to your spaces through the wood. Not only does it make a space feel more complete, it’s not too difficult to make!
This set of geometric wood wall art is actually a duplicate of the exact same design. One is just hung upside down! I love that this pattern’s clean lines give it a modern feel.
Alright, let’s start DIYing!
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Tools
- Miter Saw
- Circular Saw
- Brad Nailer
What You’ll Need
- 1/4″ plywood project panel
- 7 – 1/2″ x 3/4″ x 8′ pine boards
- 1/2″ brad nails
- Wood glue
- Painter’s tape
- Pre-Stain
- Stain (we used Special Walnut)
- Spray Polycrylic
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How to Make Geometric Wood Wall Art
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STEP 1: SAND
Before cutting anything down, go ahead and sand your boards. It’s much easier to knock out the sanding now before everything gets cut down into small pieces. We sanded everything with 120, 180, and 220 grit sandpaper.
STEP 2: CUT PIECES
Start by cutting your plywood pieces down to 15×19″. This will allow your final wall art to be 16×20″.
Next cut the majority of your pieces roughly down to size. You don’t have to measure exactly here, but err on the side of being too long. We’ll cut off the overhang at the end. Here’s how we cut ours (the quantities reflect what’s needed for 2 art pieces):
- Straight on both ends: 4 @ 20″, 8 @ 5″
- One side angled at 22.5-degrees: 8 @ 13″, 2 @ 9″, 2 @ 7″, 4 @ 5″
- One side angled at 45-degrees: 2 @ 19″, 8 @ 5″, 6 @ 9″
There are 8 pieces per art piece that do need to be accurately measured. They are all cut at 90-degrees on one side and 45-degrees on the other. The measurements provided are measuring the LONG side in inches.
- 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6
- 1 13/16, 3 5/16, 4 13/16, 6 5/16
The first set of measurements are the pieces highlighted in red, while the second set are for the pieces highlighted in orange.
STEP 3: STAIN
Before staining, I applied pre-stain to each of my boards to help ensure a more even finish. Pine boards are notorious for being splotchy, so I like to add in this extra step for more consistent coloring.
If you’d like some more staining tips, check out this post where we do a deep dive into how to get the best stain finish.
STEP 4: GLUE
Before you start gluing, I’d recommend laying out your pieces into sections so that you can quickly move through the pattern without fumbling when trying to find your next piece.
I would also recommend starting with the piece that is highlighted in yellow. It should be placed 6″ from the edge of your plywood. From there, you can decide what order to apply your boards in.
Apply an even bead of glue to one board at a time and place it where you want it to be. Apply slight pressure to the board for a 15-30 seconds before adding the next piece. Think of it like a Command Strip. You have to press it down for a bit before moving on.
You can also add a piece of painter’s tape to help keep it in place or you can pop a nail or two into each piece. If you add nails, just remember that you’ll probably want to go back and fill in all the nail holes at the end.
As you place each piece, be careful to not adjust any of the pieces you previously glued down. You can use any of your 1/2 x 3/4″ boards as a spacer.
Once your glue has dried for approximately 15 minutes, grab a screw and a clean cloth and wipe off any glue that seeped out. Poking a screw through the cloth allows you to get into tight corners that you wouldn’t normally be able to get into.
Let your glue dry for 24 hours before moving onto the next step.
STEP 5: CUT OFF EXCESS
Add a piece of painter’s tape to the front of your wood art to help prevent the wood from splintering as you cut through it.
We used our Kreg Accu-Cut to get a clean, straight line all the way across. You want to cut your wall art so that the decorative pieces are exactly in line with your plywood edge.
STEP 6: ADD FRAME
Cut your frame pieces down to size and attach them using glue and 1/2″ brad nails.
If you would like to fill your nail holes, you can use Early American wood putty for a great color match and no-sanding required.
STEP 7: SEAL
We opted to seal ours with spray Polycrylic because it dries crystal-clear and doesn’t alter the color of your wood.
There you have it! Now you have yourself some DIY geometric wall art. The great thing about this wall art is that it has limited possibilities. You can get creative with the pattern and still use the same technique to make your design a reality!
Want some more wood wall art ideas? You’re going to love these:
- Our super popular wood squares (that can also double as a picture frame!)
- Pottery Barn inspired geometric wall art
- Ombre finished wood wall art
Jen says
I have making a couple wall art pieces like this on my goals for this year. Thanks for this inspiration! Yours turned out beautifully! I’ll be linking your post to my weekly Cottage Keeping post tomorrow!
Zoe Hunt says
Ah thanks so much for including us! Can’t wait to see how yours turn out when you make some 🙂
Renat says
Hello, I was going threw the project and I think the “What you’ll need section” is not totally accurate, since it list’s only : 7 – 1/2″ x 3/4″ x 8′ pine boards
And later on you give these dimensions ( for my calculations I cut these in half ):
Straight on both ends: 4 @ 20″, 8 @ 5″
One side angled at 22.5-degrees: 8 @ 13″, 2 @ 9″, 2 @ 7″, 4 @ 5″
One side angled at 45-degrees: 8 @ 5″, 6 @ 9″
and these ( left them as is ) :
1.5, 3, 4.5, 6
1 13/16, 3 5/16, 4 13/16, 6 5/16
By my calculations these dimensions come down to ~217 inche’s of pine board’s. As for the finished product, with the frame (16+16+20+20=72) comes to 217+72=289 + waste ~10%(289*0,1=~29) comes to 289+29 = 318 inches of pine board total for one artwork with frame.
I would appreciate if you redacted this post to accurately display this information. Thank you.
Zoe Hunt says
Hi Renat! We double-checked and did use (7) 8′ pine boards to create two pieces of artwork. Your math of 318″ also affirms that. You would need 3.3125 (318″/96″) to create a single piece of artwork. It would likely be smart to get 8 pine boards to account for miscuts.
Renat says
Thank you for the reply.
I realize now that I overlooked that 8′ is in feet, not inches as I though for some odd reason )
Totally my mistake, I apologize and wish you the best of luck and Thank You for creating this content )
Shannon says
I seem to be missing a piece. The long piece to the right of the one highlighted in yellow. what is that measurement?
Zoe Hunt says
Hi Shannon! You don’t have to cut that one to a precise size and will trim off one side at the end. You can cut it down to approximately 19″ and cut one side at 45-degrees.
1 says
Hello! I love this but I’m confused. Did you rip the wood to 1/2 x3/4 or where did you find that size lumber? thanks!
Zoe Hunt says
Hi Donna! We bought ours at Lowe’s. You can find it in the aisle with the trim. Hope that helps!
Josie Branton says
Hi Zoe! I’m excited to try this out. I don’t work with wood often, so I have a clarifying question.
Does the “What you’ll need” section account for both pieces of the pieces of wood art on the wall or just one? If I want to make both, and turn one upside down, will I need to double the “what you’ll need section?”
Thanks!!
Zoe Hunt says
Hi Josie! The “What you’ll need” section lists the supplies needed for two pieces of artwork like we have pictured. No need to double it. Good luck on your project 😊