DIY Roman Numeral Pallet Clock

Happy Hump Day, everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your week. Have you checked out the Holiday Gift Guide and Giveaway blog hop that’s going on this week? Be sure to check it out and enter to win all 25 prizes! I’m sharing the DIYer’s Holiday Gift Guide AND giving away a HomeRight Finish Max Pro Sprayer!

I got a ton of comments on my fireplace makeover about the clock that’s hanging over my mantel, so I thought I would share about it today. It is the DIY Roman Numeral Pallet Clock that I teased about on Instagram, oh, just way back in JUNE!! #badblogger

I originally made it to go over the mantel but, once I finished it, I thought there was too much white on white action going on (this was before my recent fireplace makeover when the entire fireplace wall was white). So instead I placed my Wood Shim Sunburst Mirror there. While I absolutely love that mirror and am so proud of how it turned out, this pallet clock has been in the back of my mind, begging for its rightful seat on the fireplace mantel throne.

After watching it gather dust for months, I finally gave in and popped it up there. I’m glad I did because it spurred me to go ahead and make the changes that I wanted to the fireplace. And now that everything is finished I couldn’t be happier.

My inspiration for this piece was this clock that I found while browsing Pinterest. I can’t, for the life of me, find the original source; just this sad little media file. I knew that I wanted a really rustic and imperfect look for my clock and pallet wood totally fits the bill. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

I cut eight pallet boards, lined them up and then placed two 1×3 boards on the back of them and screwed each pallet board into the 1x3s.

To get a perfect circle, I tied string around a screw and stuck the screw into the middle of the attached boards. Then I tied a piece of chalk to the other end of the string, stretched the string out to its length and traced my circle all the way around the boards. Then I just cut it out with a jigsaw. My circle ended up being 41″ in diameter.

Once I had the basic shape of my clock, I stained the boards with Dark Walnut stain and then painted over the stain with white paint (Sherwin Williams Alabaster), leaving a smaller circle in the center unpainted.

After that dried I used the same trick as I used earlier to trace a circle along the edge (about two inches from the edge) except this time I used a pencil. I traced another circle about an inch inside of that circle. Then I traced another one about a centimeter outside of the stained circle in the center of the clock.

In between the two outer circles I drew lines for all of the clock minutes. This was done completely by eye and there was a ton of measuring and erasing going on. Then I painted over the line with DecoArt Americana Decor Chalk paint in Carbon.

For the roman numerals I used a small ruler and hand drew each number with a pencil and then painted them in with the same black paint as earlier. This part was so tedious and time consuming. I may have uttered a few choice words.

After all of the paint dried, I distressed the entire piece by gently sanding over it with an electric sander. I roughed it up a little bit more along the edges and in a few random spots just so it wouldn’t look so uniform. I did purchase clock hands to attach to it but when they arrived in the mail they ended up being too small. I thought about returning them for a bigger size but the hand-less clock grew on me. I think it’s sort of unique. It reminds me to stop always watching the clock; to just slow down and enjoy the moments that life brings. It’s my own accidental metaphorical symbol.

I am so smitten with this clock. I want to make one for every room in my house but I will refrain. I don’t want to become known as the “Crazy Clock Lady”.

I will be sharing my Thanksgiving tablescape on Friday so be sure to stick around for that! See ya then!