DIY Geometric Wood Art / Room Divider

I am absolutely in love with my DIY geometric wood art room divider! It might even be my favorite project from our Home Office / Guest Room makeover. My room divider is 41” x 48”. It’s smaller than a standard room divider, but exactly the size that I needed for this space. That’s the beauty of DIY – you can make it EXACTLY to your own specifications!

In this post, I’m giving you all the details on how to build your own DIY geometric wood art. You can follow these same steps whether you’d like to create a beautiful piece of art for your wall or you want to add feet and make a DIY room divider like mine.

Now, I’ll warn you, this is a bit more complex than the usual beginner DIY. Of course, I’m the type who loves to just go for it and figure it out. I made it work and you can too! So, if you’re willing to put in the work and push through those inevitable moments of doubt, then keep on reading to learn how to build your own DIY geometric wall art / room divider!

 

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How to Build a DIY Geometric Wood Art / Room Divider

Supplies Needed:

• *Premium 1×2 x 8ft wood boards – I highly recommend getting the premium boards in your wood of choice. Since I planned to stain mine black, I used pine for the budget option, however, oak or poplar would look beautiful!
• Wood Glue
• Painters’ Tape
• Pencil
• Stain / Paint / Sealer of choice (I used Minwax Penetrating Stain in True Black)
• 1.5″ Wood Screws (if adding feet for a room divider)
• Optional – ¼-Inch Sanded Plywood (for backing if you want it as a solid piece)

Tools Used:

• Orbital Sander
• Miter Saw (could use a miter box)
• Corner Clamps – Optional

*Determining How Many Wood Boards You Need for your DIY Geometric Wood Art:

First, decide the size of your wood art / room divider. Mine is 41” wide x 48” tall. Then, decide if you’ll have the 1-inch side or 2-inch side of the board facing the front. I made mine with the 1-inch side facing the front for narrower slats. I’ve seen it done both ways and both look great!

The simplest way is to calculate your width x height and determine how many boards that translates into. For example, take my 41” x 48” piece of art. Since I used the 1-inch side as the face, I would need 41 1-inch slats that are 48” tall to fill my piece. Since each board is 8ft long, each board will give me two 48” slats, so I divided 41 by 2 to get 20.5. In theory, this should cover my entire piece without any gaps.

However, we’re cutting the boards at angles and odd sizes, so we can’t use the entirety of every board. I bought 15 boards for my project thinking I’d have extra and I used EVERY SINGLE PIECE. If I had messed up my measurements at all, I’d be running back to the store for more wood! So, I recommend buying the full amount of boards, and maybe a few extras. You can always return what you don’t use or use them for another project.

Step 1: Build Your DIY Wood Frame

There are two ways to build a frame – with butt joints or mitered corners. I preferred the clean look of mitered corners for this project, however, butt joints are a bit simpler to do.

To build your frame:

• Mark two boards with the total width of your piece, and mark two boards with the total height. If mitering the corners, these marks will be the OUTSIDE of the frame, which means, your cuts on each end of the board should measure IN from your mark. Cut each end of each board at a 45-degree angle.
• Next, lay the boards out in the shape of your frame to make sure they line up correctly. Make sure you have a nice flat surface to lay the entire piece on (this is important to make sure it isn’t twisted or tweaked).
• Now, one corner at a time, glue the corners together. To do this, straighten out the two boards and tape the outside edge together using painters’ tape – this will help make sure you have a nice, tight seam. Next, add glue to the edge of each board and press them together to make a 90-degree angle. Do this for all four corners. You can clamp the pieces together using corner clamps if you have them. If not, I used tape only and it worked perfectly! Just make sure each corner is square before the glue dries.
• If you are using plywood backing, cut it to the same size as your frame and glue it to the back. Give the entire frame a light sand with 220 grit sandpaper so it’s smooth and ready for finishing.

Step 2: Measure and Cut the Boards for the Bottom Right Corner

In my design, the angled bottom right corner forms a base for the left corner and the vertical boards. So, I started with that corner.

First, cut a 45-degree angle on the end of your first board. To get even spacing, I used a scrap piece of my 1×2 board as a spacer between each piece. Align the angled edge with the inside edge of the frame. Using a pencil, mark where it lines up with the other edge of the frame. Make sure you know which way to cut it and cut this edge at 45 degrees.

Line up the cut piece inside the frame, then align the spacer against it. Take your 1×2 board and line up the angled edge with the frame and repeat the process described above. Repeat this process until you are happy with how many boards you have across the right corner. Mine has 13.

 

Step 3: Sand and Glue in the Slat Boards

Once you have the corner pieces laid out, mark where the edges should line up with the frame. This make it SO MUCH EASIER to know exactly where the boards should line up when gluing them! Sand the boards if needed before gluing them in.

Beginning with the corner piece, line it up, again using the scrap board to ensure even spacing. Then, add glue to each end of the boards and glue them to the frame one at a time.

I stood the frame up to glue in my boards. This helped me line them up perfectly with the edge of the frame and avoid accidentally gluing them to the floor. If you are using the plywood backing, you should glue them to the back piece, which makes it much easier.

I used painters’ tape to hold them in place if they couldn’t stay on their own. In case you’re wondering, I didn’t use any sort of clamps and it came out plenty sturdy!

 

Step 4: Measure, Cut and Glue Boards for the Bottom Left Corner

For the angled left corner, repeat the process described in Steps 2 and 3. Align the boards, mark where the boards meet, cut them to size, sand and glue in. After a few boards, you will begin measuring along the frame and the board that crosses from the right corner. These pieces will have one straight cut and one 45-degree angled cut. For reference, I have 8 boards on this corner.

Once these boards are glued in, move on to Step 5.

 

Step 5: Measure, Cut and Glue the Vertical Boards

Repeat the process described in Steps 2 and 3, this time measuring against the top of the frame and the bottom angled boards. At the point where the two angled corners meet, you may need to make two cuts. I marked the two angles and the center point where they intersect and cut so they met at the center point. My DIY geometric wood art has 24 vertical boards.

To glue in the vertical slats, I stood up my frame upside down so the boards could sit on the flat frame rather than the angled boards.

As you can see, I haven’t gotten around to staining the bottom of my frame yet. Whoops!

Step 6: Add Feet to Your DIY Geometric Wood Art to Make a Room Divider

If you want your DIY Wood Art to become a standalone room divider, then you can add feet like mine. To do this, I cut two pieces of my 1×2 boards to 10.5-inches long with 50-degree angles on either end. Once all the slat boards are glued and cured, lay the wood art piece on a table and screw the feet into the bottom. We pre-drilled two pocket holes side-by-side for each foot and attached them directly to the frame with 1.5-inch screws.

Step 7: Stain Your Geometric Wood Art / Room Divider

I usually think staining is the fun part, but my goodness, it’s some serious work to stain between all of those slats! I used my trusty Minwax penetrating stain in black. It took hours to stain this entire piece with a single coat of stain. I didn’t have it in me to seal it, so I left it as is. I’ve never used spray on stains, but I’ve seen them out there. This project definitely warrants trying it (although I ALWAYS recommend testing stain on a scrap piece of wood to ensure it turns out correctly).

Once your piece is stained and sealed, it’s ready to hang up / stand up on its own. Step back and admire your beautiful new DIY Geometric Wood Art / Room Divider!