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DIY Geometric Wood Wall Art

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by
March 23, 2021
Zoe Hunt

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.

DIY geometric wood wall art

Alright, let’s start DIYing! 

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Tools

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.

sanding pine using orbital sander

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″
cutting wood trim pieces using a miter saw

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.

sketch of wall art design

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.

Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner next to pine boards that has been cut down

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.

3D rendering of wall art highlighted to show the different cuts

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.

gluing wood trim pieces to plywood backing to create geometric pattern

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.

wiping excess glue from wood

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.

taping edge of wall art

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.

Free download wood sizing cheatsheet

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.

geometric wood wall art set of two viewed from slight side angle

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:

make this wall art text pointing to photo of geometric wall art hanging on wall
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  1. 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!

  2. 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 )

  3. 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.

  4. 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!

  5. 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 😊

  6. BStrick says:

    Hi
    I made these for my wife’s office in our new house to absorb sound for video calls. First, I made 8 diff length spacers out of scrap plywood and it turned out great using your pattern. Also used 1×2 pine and ripped them. 23 gauge pin nails with a few dabs of clear gorilla glue. Could not be happier with how these turned out. Thank you for sharing this great project.

  7. Jason Dean says:

    I know this is an old post, but I love the design and just have one question. If the edges are cut flush with the plywood, how does the frame attach? It doesn’t seem like there would be any plywood to glue the frame flat onto. If the pieces are 3/4 by 1/2 then the pieces glued to the plywood would be elevated above the frame by the thickness of the plywood (1/2″) – unless I turned the frame pieces so that the frame would be 1/2″ wide (frame slightly narrower than the pieces glued to the plywood.) I’m just trying to figure that last bit out. Thank you so much.

    • Zoe Hunt says:

      Hi Jason! There are two options here. Originally we made the design to only require 3/4 x 1/2″ dowels, making the frame slightly thinner than the rest of the boards (as soon in the 3D rendering designs). You can go this route or you can get 3/4 x 3×4″ dowels for the frame around if you want everything to be flush and the same width. Either option will look great!

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