How To Make A Small DIY Living Gallery Wall

Before I dive in, did you know there is a National Thrift Shop Day??? It is August 17th. Of course to celebrate I went thrifting! Juliet from A Loverly Life organized a blog hop to share outdoor entertaining ideas. The hop was the perfect excuse for me to shop. By the way, you can see all of the wonderful ideas later in the the post.

My main goals at the thrift shop were:

#1 to not get too distracted

#2 find something to upcycle that would work for my living gallery wall idea

Sometimes when you’re looking for something specific, you don’t find it. However, on this particular day the thrift goddesses were on my side. I was so excited to find a trio of wood square pieces that seemed to have been some sort of hanging outdoor decoration. I was so excited, that I forgot to take a proper before photo! You can catch a glimpse of the pieces below on the right.

Gather materials.

While I was at the Haven conference earlier this summer Behr was giving away spray paint. I chose the Congo Green with an outdoor project in mind to compliment our newly refreshed backyard patio. This is not a sponsored post, but it does contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase from via a link, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support! Feel free to read our disclosure policy.

Sand wood.

As I said, I have no idea what this piece was originally. There was some glue residue like the three pieces were attached. I sanded off the glue, remnants of what looked like a cedar color stain, and the general roughness. Make sure to wipe down a piece after sanding.

Tape off for a two-tone paint.

I decided to tape on the diagonal to add further interest to my two-tone paint. I ended up adding plastic to prevent any overspray.

Read product instructions before applying.

Spray in smooth sweeping motion.

Paint second color if desired.

We have a bunch of samples from our exterior paint trim and I picked one of these for the contrasting color on this project.

Cut weed barrier fabric to fit your piece.

To transform this salvaged piece into a planter, I decided to use weed barrier fabric to hold my plants.

Fold the fabric into a pocket to hold your plant.

Staple weed barrier fabric to wood.

To provide more support, I cut a piece of cardboard to wrap inside the fabric, and stapled both to the wood. Plywood could also be used for further support.

Fill pocket with soil and your plant.

To add some fall color I chose succulents with red tone leaves. I used smaller plants so the roots systems would fit well. These wood pieces were sold with black ropes that must have been used for hanging, so I repurposed them to hang on to our diy privacy screen.

Ta-da!

Small living gallery wall on our privacy screen.

After making these thrifted, upcycled planters, I am thinking of what other items can be transformed. You can try to make a living wall gallery out of other things at thrift shops or from your own home. An old serving tray, a trellis, scrap wood pile, baskets, an old picture frame etc. Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried or would try a project like this!

Now to see more ideas for autumn outdoor entertaining in fall. Click on each image to read the posts. Make sure to say hi to each of these ladies 🙂

Check out this inspiration!

Shop the look without the DIY!