D I Y Home Decor Idea: Personalized Nail Boards

Ciao lovelies,

I hope everyone had a spleeeendid week and that you have some fun plans in store for this weekend! I thought I’d bring you a DIY project that I did a while ago that’s pretty easy yet creates a stunning, unique piece to hang in your home.

I call it a nail board- you use nails to create the outline of the country or state of your choice and place a heart at your homeotwn/favorite city.  I first saw this idea on pinterest and decided to put my own spin on it! So if you are curious about what’s entailed in this project, read on! <3

I chose to make this board as a gift for my sister. I made an outline of Italy and a heart at her favorite city of Florence.  Certain states and countries have more defined and easily distinguishable shapes, and my Italy is one of them!

What you’ll need:

• a wooden board– whichever size/color you want. You can also buy a plain, wooden board and paint it.
• small flat-topped nails– you can choose the color: gold, silver, copper and make sure that they have a flat (not round) top so they can hold the string better. Also it makes it look more polished 🙂
• a hammer– to hammer in the nails
• a pencil– to outline your shape before nailing
• fine string– choose the fineness and color that you prefer. Just be mindful that if it is too thick, it won’t be as easy to make and will look a bit messier. I chose a pearly/pinkish tone for my string.
• (optional) a map/ printed outline- I chose to freehand my outline so that I could fit it perfectly on my board but if you don’t feel confident doing this you can print your outline first and then trace it with a pencil.

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1. To begin, I found this gorgeous natural wood board (for $11!) at Michael’s craft store. (You can also find a basic wooden board at an appliance store.) I had originally planned to buy a piece of wood and paint it in a soft color, but I LOVED the look of this one and how natural, yet finished, it was.  If you go with natural wood, or a very pale, neutral color, your piece will go with any wall color you have and your other decorations.

2. Next, I found these gorgeous little copper nails at Home Depot. I had to go to a couple places to find the size and color I wanted. I was initially looking for gold, but ended up loving this rose gold color and they were the perfect size.  You will be nailing them into the board, so consider your board’s thickness, and make your choice of nail length accordingly.

3. As I mentioned earlier, I free-handed my outline in pencil. It was easy to erase on my board so I made sure to get the outline exactly as I wanted it before nailing.  I suggest you write as lightly as possible in pencil because it is difficult to erase your outline once you start nailing without making a mess. Don’t forget to sketch out a little heart at your hometown or favorite city!

4. Next I just lightly nailed in my nails about 1/2 centimeter apart.  Consider that you want to leave a little space in between for your string to pass.

5. Once you nail all the nails in- you are ready to thread! So here there are two options: 1. you can make  all the strings go from the outline of your country to the heart so that all strings meet at the heart. 2. Just fill in the space (randomly) criss-crossing with your string, creating a more textured filler.  Some outlines that are more narrow, like in my example, do not lend themselves to option number one. It is almost impossible to make all the strings go from the outline of a state/country with narrow twists and turns to a heart placed in the corner.

To start the thread, wrap it around one nail and tie a little knot. Then do all of your weaving in one piece and knot it at the end. You can glue down both of the little ends so that they lay flat when you are done.

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That’s it! It’s a bit time consuming with all the nails, but I think it’s worth it to make this one-of-a-kind piece that is personalized just for you! And there are so many opportunities to make it your own!

Please let me know what you guys think in the comments below, and happy DIY-ing!

Baci,

Amanda <3

 

Photo of wooden board: michaels.com

Photo of copper nail: homedepot.com

photo of nails in board: Mark Hunter, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic