Paint Stick Flag

This cheap & easy Paint Stick Flag is made in only a couple of hours, with just a few supplies, resulting in a rustic, patriotic home decor piece.

How to Make Your Own Paint Stick Flag

My Paint Stick Flag cost me absolutely nothing.

I already had Rustic Red, Buttercream, and In the Navy paint in my Dixie Belle stash, and at least a couple dozen paint stir sticks accumulated over the years.

(If you don’t have paint sticks, you can get a 10-pack at Lowes for a couple of bucks.)

A little glue, and a piece of rope, string, or twine, and I was all set to go.

I am partnering with the Dixie Belle Paint Company for this post. Paint and supplies were generously provided to me by Dixie Belle, but all ideas and creations are my own.

(Even my rope didn’t cost me anything because I used the pretty piece that was tied around my favorite summer blanket from Muslin Comfort. Do you save things like that for later use, too? This was the perfect use for my free rope.)

Making the Paint Stick Flag

You’ll need 9 paint sticks for this project– 7 for the flag, and 2 for the supports in the back.

Arrange your paint sticks how you want them.

I decided to place mine so that the indents in the sticks were on the right-hand side because I thought it gave the impression of a little wave or ripple in the flag.

I laid out my paint sticks with the printed side facing up because this will be the back. I then used a few other paint sticks inserted between my 7 sticks as temporary spacers. You could also just “eye-ball”, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist. 😛

I cut the last 2 paint sticks so that they were approximately 7″ long to serve as the supports behind the 7 sticks that make the flag. The wood is thin and soft, so it was easy to cut with a small hand saw.

I applied just a dot of Gorilla Glue to the back of the paint sticks where I wanted the support sticks to line up, and then gently pressed them onto the back of the flag.

I allowed the glue to dry for several hours.

Then, I drilled a hole in the upper top corners, where the rope will attach later, and I was ready for paint!

Painting My Paint Stick Flag

I wanted my flag to look more rustic, so I chose Buttercream, In the Navy, and Rustic Red as my colors, but Dixie Belle has a variety of red, white & blue shades of paint, so choose the ones that work for you!

Plus, Dixie Belle recently released new 4-ounce sizes of all their Chalk Mineral Paints which are perfect for crafting and small projects like this one.

The paints pictured here are the 8 oz sizes, but I’ve begun filling out my collection with more colors in the 4-ounce sizes, too. Aren’t they cute?

I used chip brushes for this project, and just lightly dry brushed the paint on, to give my flag a time-worn, weathered look.

I made a quick and easy “1776” stencil with my Cricut and used a star stencil from the Dollar Tree, but you could accomplish something similar using a Sharpie white paint marker and free-handing the stars and numbers.

The Sharpie paint markers are quite handy. You can see how I used one on my DIY Reversible Porch Sign HERE.

After the paint was dry (it didn’t take long– DB Chalk Mineral Paint dries fast!), I simply fed each end of my recycled rope piece through the backside of the pre-drilled holes and tied them in a knot.

Fun fact: This project actually began because I was considering making another DIY Barn Quilt using patriotic colors to put above the porch fireplace in the summer. But, since I don’t have time to do it at the moment, this does the trick for now.

(A red, white & blue barn quilt is on my “to-do” list though. That was such a fun project!)

Wishing you a Happy Fourth of July,

Let’s stay in touch! You can subscribe to The House on Silverado, and follow on social media, so you won’t miss a thing!

Facebook —– Instagram —– Pinterest

Looking for more inexpensive projects?

Hop over to Grandma’s House DIY and be sure to check out my friend Tara’s $20 storage bench makeover!

Plus, take a look at Lydia’s TikTok inspired front porch!

And here’s a beautifully upholstered headboard that you can make for less than $20.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog.