clever DIY scrap wood projects

With lumber prices always going up, there’s no more room to just throw away or make a fire with the scrap wood left over from your projects. You can save a lot of money by re-purposing them so they don’t go to waste.

Scrap wood is still wood and you can carry out amazing DIY projects with them, building custom pieces that reflect your style and preferences if you just look beyond the scrap.

A good woodworker sees every piece of wood as an opportunity to make something new. Something beautiful.

That’s why, we’re giving you 14 clever and ingenious scrap wood project ideas that will not only ignite your creativity but also save you money, and maybe make you money if you decide to sell some of the pieces you make.

So grab your toolbox, go through the ideas below and see if any one piques your interest.

Outdoor Wood Side Table

outdoor side table
Photo Credit: LoveCreateAndCelebrate

This outdoor wood side table from Lovecreateandcelebrate is one of the easiest scrap wood projects you can carry out by yourself. It literally scrams easy.

You can make it with 2x4s, 2x6s, 2x8s or any other sizes available. You simply need to glue them together until they’re wide enough for a side table.

Apart from the wood, you need wood glue, outdoor varnish, table saw or circular saw (whatever type of saw you have should do just fine), pocket hole jig, a power drill and some screws.

DIY Coat Hanger

scrap wood cloth hanger
diy coat hanger

One piece of scrap wood board will be enough for this. Just attach coat hooks to it using a cordless drill and screws to make your coat hanger or rack, which you can then mount on doorway and bedroom walls to hang your coat on.

A Shoe Bench

shoe bench
Photo Credit: Woodshop Diaries

Another exciting project you can carry out with scrap wood is this shoe bench. This is actually a project carried out by Shara from Woodshopdiaries.

It was made from a single piece of 2×10 board and a few other scrap wood. Personally, I’d say you don’t have to have a whole 2×10 board lying around to carry out this project.

With a little bit of ingenuity you can always glue smaller boards together or carry out some other forms of joinery to get the full piece you need.

Wooden Door Mat

scrap wood door and bath mat

Make a frame the size of a door mat with any scrap wood you have, and cut inside pieces at angles using a miter saw or circular saw to fit inside the wooden frame.

The assembly can be done with glue and nails. Make sure the inside pieces of the frame are spaced a little to allow dirt and mud scrapings to fall through easily.

Entryway Key Organizer

entryway key hanger
Photo Credit: Etsy

I found this entryway key organizer on Etsy, and the first thought that came to my mind was that I can get this done myself at home.

Of course, you can always get it on Etsy, but if you have some 4x4s, 3x4s or similar sized scrap woo lying around, you can cut them to size, glue them together, screw in the key hooks, stain the board and you’ve got yourself a beautiful entryway key organizer.

Make A Hanging Shelf

3 step scrap wood rope hanging shelf
scrap wood rope hanging shelf
scrap wood hanging shelf

With just a single piece of scrap wood board cut to size and ropes, you can make a hanging shelf unit in your kitchen or laundry room to act as storage for your kitchen or laundry supplies.

Just suspend the scrap with ropes hanging from screw-eye hooks attached to your ceiling, and that’s all there is to it.

Make A Scrap Wood Wall

scrap wood wall
From Prettyhandgirl

If you have unused or blank walls in your home or studio, covering it up with scrap wood is a great way turn that unused wall into some form of decoration.

Once you do it, it will serve as a form of attraction to any eye that enters that room. You can even install some ledges on it to display some accent décor pieces you’ve collected like an accent vase and some of your cool toys.

You can also make a wall art like this one I found on Instructables and the one from Crafted Workshop shown in the video below.

Make Farm House Accents

scrap wood accent picture frame

With a few scrap barn woods, wood glue, a cordless drill and a few screws, you can make a farm house accent piece like this picture frame below.

Dining Table For Pets

scrap wood pet dining table
wooden pet dining table

If you don’t have a feeding table for your pet dog or cat, you can make one yourself with the scrap woods left over from your projects.

Just cut two holes using a jigsaw into a board, one each for food and water bowls. Cut table legs to the size of your pet and assemble the whole piece.

Sand and paint it so it’s attractive to you as well your cute little feline or puppy.

Scrap Wood Wine Rack

distressed scrap wood wine rack
scrap wood wine rack

Want a wine rack to suit your style and wow your guest. With a few scrap wood you can make this beautiful wine rack easily.

Make A Wooden Sofa Sleeve

scrap wood sofa sleeve
wooden sofa sleeve

You can make sleek looking wooden covers and cup holder for your upholstery with a few scrap woods. Cut and assemble them as shown in the picture below so it fits or hugs the arm of your chair or sofa arm.

Using a hole saw drill a hole on the top piece, the size of your favorite cup so it can help as a cup holder as well.

Turn Your Scrap Wood Into A Toolbox

scrap wood toolbox

If you don’t have a toolbox for organizing your tools, why not turn those scrap wood you’ve got into one.

A toolbox does not have to be very beautiful, so even if the pieces are in different colors or texture, you can still piece them together into one toolbox to organize your tools. Especially hand tools like chisels, hammer and screw drivers.

With some glue and a brad nailer, you can easily put the pieces together to form a handy toolbox to store your tools in.

Custom chopping board

chopping board made from scrap wood

If you have some hardwood scraps lying around and you don’t know what to make with them, try making a custom chopping board with them.

Just make sure they’re flat, if not use a jointer if you have one to joint and flatten any warped one. Use a thickness planer to plane them to the same thickness.

Cut them to the size of the chopping board you want and just use a water resistant glue like Titebond II or III to glue them together.

Finally, use a fine grit sandpaper to sand the board to make it silky smooth. Apply an appropriate wood stain and you’ve got yourself a custom chopping board made from hardwood scraps.

Form a garden walkway

make garden walkway with scrap wood

You can add or replace an existing walkway in your garden using nothing but scrap wood. Just make sure you dig a level pathway that’s about the same width and depth of the pieces you’re using and lower them into the pathway to form your beautiful garden walkway.

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