RUSTIC WOOD PLANK DIY CLOCK

At 4ft square, this rustic DIY Clock can’t help but make a BIG impression! You won’t believe how inexpensive and simple it was to make!

I have been working (and waiting) on this project for what seems like forever and I really am SO, SO excited to finally have the chance to share this DIY clock with y’all today!

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Brady and I LOVE to look through Houzz together for all sorts of ideas and inspiration.  One night, through some random exploring, we happened across this DIY wall clock, which, as always, I pinned for later and forgot about … that is, until we moved into this house with a living room of impossible-to-decorate walls.  Okay, impossible may be a bit harsh, but really, this room has been nothing short of challenging.  First of all, our fireplace takes up it’s own entire wall at the far end of the room.  Then, lovely walls of windows on either side of the living room have made furniture placement quite difficult.  All of this has left us with only two wall spaces in the entire room on which to hang anything.  Unfortunately, one of these walls is quite awkward (you can see how I made this work for us with my Gallery Wall here), which left us with only one option to hang the clock; however, upon unpacking, we learned that the clock we’ve had since moving in together (over 7 years ago now) was just too small for that space.  Now you may think that buying a new clock is no big deal, and before starting my search I totally would have agreed, but I’ve had my eyes peeled for months and months now and I haven’t come across even one option that I liked for a price that I could talk Brady into.  So what’s a girl to do when she can’t find what she likes and her husband’s incessant complaining about the missing clock is driving her crazy? She makes one, that’s what!

*Side note: I’ll admit it’s been annoying not having any idea what time it is without getting up and walking to the kitchen, but honestly, I haven’t found it nearly as painful as he has!*

I knew I was looking for something rustic looking, but with a polished touch to it as well and it wasn’t hard for me to come up with an idea of how to make it (huge thanks to Pinterest as always!).  Having come across a ton of pallet wood signs lately, I thought that this would make the perfect backdrop for our clock.  Because this clock was going to be BIG, I wanted something sturdy to work with, so instead of using pallet wood, I bought some 1×6 lumber at the hardware store.  The best part about DIY is being able to make a custom piece that is EXACTLY as you need it to be – the space I was looking to fill was approximately 5 feet wide, so I decided to cut the wood to 4 feet to leave a bit of room on either side.  It would take nine 1×6 boards to make a 4 foot (or very, very close to) square.  After sanding down the rough edges, I stained the 9 boards with 4 different stain colours.

To assemble the wood plank background, Brady and I arranged the different boards and he screwed a couple of extra 1x6s to the back of each one attaching them all together.

We also created our own hanger by cutting a board at a 45 degree angle, attaching one side to the clock and the other to the wall – this way we could ensure that we hit a couple of studs when we hung the clock, while still keeping it all centered on the wall.





Now that the background was made, it was time to turn it into a clock.  I found an absolute ton of options for DIY clocks.  There are fabulous tutorials like this one by Faded Plains that teach you how to make your own clock from scratch.  Or, there are clock kits that come with all of the necessary parts and all you have to do is mount them.  A kit seemed the easiest way to achieve that polished look that I was going for.  This one on Amazon was a fabulous price and had a modern look to it that I thought would contrast nicely with the wood, so I ordered it up.  It came quickly and looked fab aside from the fact that the clock hands were broken (as was my heart at having to wait for a new one).  Rather than risk ordering another broken clock kit, I set to work looking for a new alternative.  I realized that the broken clock was truly a blessing in disguise when I came across this gorgeous kit on Etsy – it really was just what I was hoping for!  The owner, Joe, was a pleasure to work with and even sent me the mounting details and directions early so that I could be prepared to get going on it as soon as it arrived.  It took just over a week from the day I ordered it until the day I received it.   With a level, a ruler and A LOT of tape, I was actually able to get it all mounted up in just a couple of hours.

Brady was kind enough to hang it for me last night and his method was so simple, yet brilliant, that I can’t help but share it with you too!  He marked the center line on the mounting board for the wall first (the one we cut to 45 degrees).





He then marked the center of the wall space, drawing a straight line horizontally to match the board edge to and one vertically to match the center line on the mounting board.

He screwed the mounting board into the studs and we hooked the heavy clock onto it.  It was still up on the wall this morning when I came downstairs, so it seems my brilliant (if I do say so myself) hanging idea worked!

This is my absolute favorite project yet!  I really am SO, SO thrilled with how it all turned out!  I am so in love with the way it looks in our living room that I can’t help but smile every time I walk by it!

Wishing you all SUCH a lovely day!