Footed Riser Board DIY for a Personalized Wedding Gift

Our crazy roadside find inspires a footed riser board DIY, becoming the perfect personalized charcuterie board wedding gift.

 

 

I joined some amazing bloggers for an April Gift DIY challenge. We were to make a DIY gift and share the tutorial. Thanks to Sydney of Sydney and Co Blog for organizing this fun challenge.

Be sure to check out all the other’s posts for more amazing inspiration. The links are at the end of this post.

 

 

This is the Monday of the month to showcase a true love story,

but what can I do if I’m driving down the street

minding my own business

and I see this sad, broken down dresser someone has dumped on the sidewalk,

and it has beautiful feet?

Those feet literally demanded I pull over and get them off that trailer trash.

So this is a different kind of true love story.

It’s my love affair with junk

and how to make a beautiful wedding gift,

from the feet up.

I’ve been wanting to make a monogram charcuterie board as a wedding gift.

To make the board useful for every day

instead of something used infrequently at parties,

we turned it into a monogram charcuterie/riser board by adding feet!

So most of the time it can be part of the kitchen’s decor,

providing height in counter top vignettes.

 

 

Check out our wood tray with upcycled handles
and other wood DIYs on the blog:

DIY Farmhouse Style Wood Tea Party Tray

DIY Farmhouse Recipe Stand: Chic Card Display

Child’s Chair Gets a New Coat of Leopard Skin

 

 

Footed Riser Board DIY

Supplies:

• Charcuterie Board, handmade or purchased
• Dresser feet, upcycled
• Wood glue, black craft (food-safe) paint, artist’s liner brush, sand paper, 1″ foam paint brush
• Oil for finishing the raw wood to make it food safe (see oil guide below)

 

Directions:

1. We’re going to assume you already have a charcuterie board you want to monogram. If not, check out this tutorial for the interesting read and helpful tips, or this one, which is how we’re making ours. With this wood piece. We used a strong tea solution to darken the wood a little. At least we know tea is food safe.
2. To create the design, we used PhotoShop, but you can use any program that lets you enlarge a design for printing to the size you want. We want our letters to fill 2 sheets of printer size paper. We have a printer that prints 11″ wide, so by taping two sheets together, we can have an 11″ x 14″ design. Since this is a wedding gift, we’ll add the wedding date. Use this method to transfer the design to the wood, then paint. We use a liner brush like this for painting letters. We do 2 coats.
3. So the painting is done, and it’s time to rise ‘er up. Our dresser feet are quite dinged up, so we’re filling in cracks with this wood filler. When that dries, we sand it smooth. After dusting, they get 2 coats of black paint. Measure 4 even corners for gluing the feet to the board with this method. (Cut an 18″ square, make sure all 4 corners are equal distances from the circle board edge, and mark the corners.) Glue the black feet to the marks. Let dry thoroughly, then rub the board, and feet if you wish, with a food safe finish.

 

 

Food Safe Finishes for Charcuterie/Riser Boards

Most wouldn’t use a charcuterie board or a monogrammed board as an actual cutting board. But any use at all requires a little TLC.

Mineral oil is the standard for conditioning wooden cutting boards, as well as for wooden cooking spoons and bowls, as it is odorless and flavorless. Be sure to look for food-grade mineral oil or oil labeled as USP, which is processed to pharmaceutical standards and is also food-grade.

Some cooks prefer a petroleum-free alternative to mineral oil, but don’t use an oil that could absorb into the wood and turn rancid, like ordinary cooking oils. Fractionated coconut oil can moisturize a wooden cutting board without going rancid, and no, it won’t make your food taste like coconut.

The goal is to keep your wood hydrated and make them less susceptible to water and stains, which also helps keep bacteria at bay.

The craft grade paint used for the monogram is food safe, and will only look better with oil rubbed on it.

Here are Amazon’s best sellers for food safe charcuterie/cutting board finishes:
Click the titles to link to the items. These are affiliate links.

 

Food Grade Mineral Oil for Cutting Boards, Countertops and Butcher Blocks – Food Safe and Made in the USA

Helpful Review: I bought this to oil my wooden cutting boards. I’d previously used olive oil, but it has a tendency to go rancid, so I don’t use it as often as I should. Still, I’d thought my cutting boards were in pretty good shape until I treated the first one with this product. I was pretty amazed at what a difference it made. Plus, it imparted absolutely no smell that I could detect. I’ll definitely be oiling them more often now.

Majestic Pure Fractionated Coconut Oil 

The reviews for this product are all geared toward the beauty uses, so we have to take the company’s word for it that it’s good for cutting boards, and thus, our charcuterie board.

Howard Products BBC0, Butcher Block Conditioner, 12 Fl Oz

Helpful Review: This week I used about 1/2 the bottle on an unfinished, reclaimed teak wood buffet. It went from a dried out, dusty looking, pale piece I wasn’t sure about to a deep, rich, glorious piece I’ll keep forever! I’m finally ready to buy a few more bottles, I still have the island and cutting boards, and in reading reviews I was reminded I should be treating my wooden spoons, too.

Food Grade Mineral Oil, 1 Gallon (128oz), for Lubricating and Protecting Cutting Board, Butcher Block, Stainless Steel, Knife, Tool, Machine and Equipment, NSF Approved

Helpful review: There are only a few manufacturers of mineral oil. This particular one is as good as any and perfectly suitable for cutting boards, butcher blocks, wooden salad bowls, etc. It is, like all mineral oils, odorless, FDA-approved, clear and easy to apply. Just wipe it on, wait 10-15 minutes, wipe off and buff if needed. I’ve been using this one for cutting boards because it is the best “value for money”.

 

 

Use your project as a riser in a vignette

 

 

or as a charcuterie board

 

 

 

This post is part of a DIY Gift Challenge.

Check out what everyone made.