Wooden Texas Wall Decoration

I really like rustic furniture and decorations and I love Texas. So I got the idea to make this when I saw a similar wooden wall decoration online. I have access to lots of flooring and I decided that this color of wood floor would work great. This type of decoration is pretty easy to make and really looks great when hung on the wall.

-Wood Floor
-Wood Glue
-Strips of Wood
-1 1/4" Screws
-Wall Hanging Barckets
-Texas Map

Begin by glueing together the tongue and groove planks. I ran glue along the inside of the groove and then hammered in the plank using a 2x4 as a rest. I would have really helped to use a clamp to hold the pieces together to insure they stay fully connected, but I didn't have a long clamp.

The template I used for this was a regular Texas map. Using an exacto knife I carefully cut around the outside of Texas to create my template. Remember the more exact you make the template, the better the product will turn out.

Next, I aligned the template where I wanted it to go upside down on the back of the planks. I used small pieces of tape that wouldn't get in the way to hold it down to trace. After I finished tracing the outline, I removed the tape and filled in those areas.

To cut out the outline of Texas I used a thicker blade for cutting out long straight lines, and a smaller thin blade for cutting tight angles. Also in some really tight spots I drilled a hole to allow better access. It took a while to cut out but don't rush, because this is the most important part and your detail will show.

I used some small strips of wood on the back of the planks to brace them together. The ones I used were 1x2s and the screws were 1 1/4in. I began by figuring out where they would fit best on the back. I then cut them out and sanded them to be smoother. I aligned them and screwed them down bracing the planks together. The hanging brackets I had didn't fit on the braces, so I had to add two more small pieces of wood to mount them. I should have used a different type of bracket but these were what I had.

To smoothen to edges and give a better edge, I used 100 and 150 grit sandpaper to sand along the edges. It also removes sharp edges, burrs, and mistakes. It gave the edge a more overall uniform look.

Hanging it was a little bit difficult because it was such a weird shape and couldn't just level it. So I had to kind of guess, but I think it turned out perfectly centered. Once it was on the wall it turned out even better than I hoped it would. It gave just the right amount of projection to the wall. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks!