Dollar Store Wood Turned Into Fall Decor

We’re getting ready for a banquet at work next week, and I just had to make something special to add to the centerpieces. All of these adorable wood pieces will be given away at the end of the night, along with some mini pumpkins at every table. Not only are they stinkin’ cute, they’re also easy to make.

All of the crates, trays and pallets are from the dollar store, and we already had the stain and foam brushes, so they cost next to nothing, too!

When I apply stain, I always begin with a thick layer, then wipe away the excess with a paper towel or microfiber cloth. The wood these are made from is very dry, so it sucks up a ton of stain very quickly. There’s something very satisfying about seeing the stain change color as you wipe it away. Or maybe that’s just me.

I’m a big fan of natural wood, so I chose two different stains - light and dark - because I wanted to do a couple of different embellishments on them. And they need to dry overnight before adhering anything to them.

At the end of fall last year, I collected everything autumn-themed that I could find and put them all in a big box so they’d be handy this year. And the fun part is, I had forgotten I had some of this! Two of the large foil stickers were exactly the same size as the trays, and I had already cut out the mini chalkboard die cuts. I even had two boxes of wood embellishments, so I had prepared myself and didn’t even mean to!

Each piece is different, so I was able to do a variety of embellishments. The two trays got these beautiful vellum phrases accented with wood leaves, and the crates and pallets all have a mixture of wood embellishments and the die cut chalkboards.

So the final product is a collection of adorable fall pieces that are going to be perfect for our centerpieces. Come back next Thursday and see how they turned out!