Decorative Wooden Bead DIY

Today’s post is so long overdue it’s not even funny but, better late than never, right? For almost two years I’ve been using these decorative wooden beads to style spaces in my own home and to take with me when we style spaces for Kresswell Interiors project photos and every time I share them, I get a question about where I bought them so today, I thought I’d share the long overdue DIY.

Now truthfully, today’s post is not going to be the most detailed DIY because this DIY was so simple and I just kind of ‘wing-ed it’ and made it so quickly and so so easily. I was actually inspired by this DIY after I went to my friend Kira’s (AKA Northern Style Exposure) house and she had these on her coffee table. When I asked where she got them from, she told me they were a DIY and where she ordered the beads from and I came home and basically immediately ordered my own and got to making it!

These beaded ropes have been trendy for awhile - and you can find these scandi rope beads or ‘prayer’ beads (as some sites call them) online to purchase from quite a few websites but they can cost upwards of $100 and well, I just couldn’t justify spending that on something that I felt I could DIY for less than $30.

To make this DIY I ordered beads online from this site (warning - they did take two months to arrive) because they were super affordable. For my particular rope that’s pictured here (in like 800 photos below! lol) I used 25 large beads but Kira used 40 on hers and it looked wicked as a longer rope too - what’s nice is you can totally customize this to be as long as you like and the look will vary depending on the size of bead you order. I strung the beads on a thin twine I had in my craft cabinet and tied a few knots at the end of the twine to make an overall knot large enough to stop the beads from falling off. You can also use a smaller bead at the end to stop the larger ones from falling off too. At the opposite end I DIY’d a tassel using leftover yarn I had to add a chunky tassel to finish the look.

Now over time from taking this around with me I did break the rope and re-strung the beads and rather than reuse the tassel I DIY’d (which was looking a bit worse for wear from all of the moving around) I used a tassel I had from a basket that came with tassels on it (see, I just tend to use things I already have! haha) and strung that to the other end instead, which is why the tassels will look different in some of these photos.

So today’s post may not be the most detailed DIY but trust me, it’s so simple and in the end, you have a super versatile piece of decor at a fraction of the cost. Just take a look below at a few of the ways I’ve used this DIY to style all kinds of areas!

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Over the years, these beads have moved around a lot in my home. I’ve used them in flatlays to style blog photos, as a part of vignettes styling my coffee table and trays, on my bar cart that used to be in my living room and they’re currently in my front entry as a part of what is probably my favourite front entry styling set up yet (and that’s saying a lot!)

Check Out:

Front Entry, Three Ways

While this DIY lives at my home permanently, when we style spaces for Kresswell Interiors photo shoots, these pretty beads have made their way into a few of our projects. They added the perfect touch to the floating shelves in the ‘Mini But Mighty’ project and at 'the Aspen Abode’ they were the perfect final touch to our coffee table styling, don’t you think?

Check Out:

The Mini But Mighty Reveal

The Aspen Abode Reveal

The beads are versatile year round but they’ve also been perfect for my holiday styling. Whether on my coffee table or my front entry - paired with the right pieces, they translate perfectly with holiday decor too!