DIY American Flag - With Tile Scraps

6 Materials
$10
2 Days
Easy
One of the perks of being a DIY-er is that your friends know just who to give their random and seemingly useless things to.

When one of those friends called and asked if I wanted a box of tile scraps, I didn't realize I'd get some pieces perfectly suited for making a unique American Flag decor piece.
This is what she gave me: mostly long strips, a few wider strips, and a couple of square pieces.
When I pulled them out to think about what I might make with them, I noticed that quite a few were exactly the same length and width - perfect stripes!


And one of the square pieces fit nicely in the corner. Now...time to clean them up.
All these tile pieces were actually scraps from a new tiling job my friend and her husband had done at their house. As the installer worked, he cut to fit, and it was these leftover pieces that he tossed into the "trash" pile in their yard.


So dusty from the job, I cleaned them up to reveal the gorgeous grey barn wood pattern. I had planned to paint them red and white - and the square blue, but when I saw how pretty they were, I really hated to cover it up with such strong colors.
That's when one of my teenagers came along and asked what I was doing. A short conversation later, and I totally had my dilemma fixed. I'd paint them shades of grey instead.


I used a pre-cut piece of plywood from Lowe's for the background, and after painting the tile pieces, I painted the plywood white, then sprayed the tiles and plywood with a clear coat.
I found some cute wooden stars at Michael's and painted them white, then added a second coat of glitter silver.


With everything painted and dry, I used construction adhesive to attach them to the plywood, and gave it 24 hours to dry. These tile pieces are pretty heavy and I wanted to make sure they had a good set before standing it up.
Finally, I used my Cricut Maker to cut out some vinyl letters in blue and red. They added a pop of color and balanced out the project.
I love how it turned out, and even Barney is feeling more patriotic now - in his casual cat way. icon
So the next time someone asks you if you want something that may be considered "trash", be sure to say YES!
Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
To Work With My Hands
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Comments
Join the conversation
5 of 105 comments
  • Mcgypsy9 Mcgypsy9 on May 23, 2020

    I really like this! I also love leftovers...lol!

    • See 1 previous
    • Mcgypsy9 Mcgypsy9 on May 23, 2020

      It certainly is satisfying and I can’t tell you how many times my husband has tried to throw away my wood scraps! I hate (strong word but couldn’t think of another) people who do not have creative minds! To them everything is just junk. To me it’s golden treasure...lololol

  • Jody Price Jody Price on May 24, 2020

    EXCELLENT!!!đŸŒ´

Next