In a previous post I shared with you a mudroom we recently completed for a client that had a fabulous backsplash with a wood herringbone pattern. Once we made it, we fell in love with it, and thought it would make a great background for some wall decor.

If you think it’s too complicated, I’m here to assure you that it’s not. In fact, I’m going to break it down for you into 6 easy steps that you can do without a lot of fancy tools! I promise you can do this!

wood herringbone backsplash

Materials

  • 1/4 inch plywood (4’x4′ sheet), cut to desired size (have Home Depot or Lowe’s cut it for you)
  • 1×2 common boards (6 ft lengths)
  • Wood Glue
  • Some small nails and hammer – 1″ long
  • 2 or more wood stain colors of your choice, and/or paint
  • Mitre box and hand saw (or mitre saw, if you have one)
  • Tape measure
  • Pencil

For our project, we used fence pickets rather than 1×2 common boards, for the backsplash. Fence pickets are really cheap and rustic looking, but they are about 3 inches wide, so we cut them in half lengthwise. Doing this requires a table saw, which most people do not own, so I recommend using 1×2 common boards for your project.

1. Measure Herringbone Pieces

I made a handy diagram to illustrate the next few instructions. Whatever size herringbone design you decide to make, there is a little formula you can use to calculate how long each small herringbone piece should be. I’ve done the triangle math for you, so all you need to do is plug in the overall width (not height) of your masterpiece, which in our diagram is represented by the letter ‘W’. Note, this equation works only for herringbone pieces that are 1.5 inches wide.

[width of board (W) x 0.3536] – 1.0606 = length of herringbone piece

herringbone pattern tuturial

So, for example, if your overall herringbone design has a width of 36 inches, then W = 36. Your individual little herringbone pieces will be 11.67 inches long.

If you plan to use any other size than 1×2’s for your individual herringbone pieces, like 1×3’s for example, you’ll need to use the next equation. In this case, ‘y’ will represent the width of each herringbone piece. So, ‘y’ would be 2.5 inches for a 1×3.

[width of board (W) x 0.3536] – [width of herringbone piece (y) x 0.7071] = length of herringbone piece

In this example, if we are using 1×3’s and our overall herringbone design has a width of 60 inches, then W = 60 and y = 2.5. After you crunch through the equation, the length of each herringbone piece will be 19.448 inches, or just 19.5 inches to make life easier.

2. Cut the Wood Pieces

Now it’s time to cut your 1×2 pieces to the calculated length. For the cutting, I recommend using a mitre saw if you have one or can borrow one.  It will just save you tons of time. Otherwise, you will need to buy a small mitre box and hand saw, because you will be making lots of both 90 and 45 degree cuts.

3. Stain the Wood

For stain, we used three different stains and some paint to create five different “colors.” The stain colors we used were Minwax Classic Gray, Minwax Weathered Oak and, Minwax White Wash Pickling Stain. You can have as many different “colors” as you wish, but I recommend at least 3 for good variation.

We used the weathered oak and the pickling stain alone of some of the pieces, but then combined the pickling stain + weathered oak on some other of the pieces. It’s also a good idea to use some of the same paint color as the cabinets, and dry brush it onto several of the herringbone pieces. This helps tie all of the pieces together with the cabinet color.

We ended up with was five different colored pieces of wood, most of which were in the gray family. However, if you wanted your herringbone pattern to look pink, for example, I would stick with the pickling stain, weathered oak, and some pink paint (dry brushed onto the wood). Your herringbone board can be made in any color family you choose!

4. Install the Border

To start, we cut a few of the long boards to form a border for our backsplash. You should install these first using generous amounts of wood glue and some small nails, and let them dry overnight.

5. Lay Out & Install the Herringbone Pieces

Next, we drew a pencil line down the center of our board, and also to mark the fourths of the board (as shown by the dotted lined in the diagram above).  The first board we put down was the top left (in the picture below). You will want to anchor this one down with some small nails, since it will take time for the wood glue to dry.

Some of your herringbone pieces won’t even need to be cut (hooray), but for many others, you will need to cut them at a 45 degree angle using the mitre box/saw. Just keep working one at a time, continuing the pattern until your board is complete. It’s normal to have a few small triangles to cut near the end to fill little gaps.

how to create a herringbone pattern

6. Hang it on the Wall

After letting your herringbone board dry overnight, it’s ready to hang! If your overall board is small, I recommend using Command Adhesive picture hanging strips. If not, attach a few D-ring hangers to the back side of your board, and hang with hammer and nails.

That’s it! Six easy steps and you can have a fabulous herringbone pattern to use as a backsplash or artwork for your walls. You could add a white or gray wood letter to the middle for your last name, or the first letter of your child – endless possibilities! Just don’t be afraid to tackle this project because it’s easier than it looks.