Eeekk!! I'm so excited for this post!! This has been one of my most favorite creations EVER! But Seriously.
Despite all the cute "scrap wood"
projects cycling around on Pinterest (yes I see them too, & yes I
want to recreate them all)... guess what - scrap wood can be
surprisingly difficult to come by! Unless you have your own from an old
deck or fence, chances are you're not going to find anything that's
decent enough to re-purpose. "Scrap" wood actually means "decently distressed, but clean wood". (#ThatsWhatSheSaid?) And let's be honest, pallets aren't just
laying around for the taking like we'd think they are! Maybe where you're from, but here.. I
have a heck of a time finding any & the ones I do find are just
plain crap.
Stay tuned for roughly eleventy-four trillion projects made out of pallets if I do ever happen to get my hands on them...
In the meantime, if you need to make your own pallet you can read about how I did that here.
Since
I didn't have any decent scrap wood laying around, I went to Home Depot &
purchased two 6 foot long cedar fence post. They cost me less than $4
each. The kid working in the back there cut them for me into 3 equal
(or about equal) pieces. When I got home, I laid them out on the back
porch to determine which sides I would use for my project - the ones
with the most wear & tear are the sides I chose, just to add more
character... ya'know?
I set aside 2 of the pieces I had
cut, & Tanner (my youngest brother) split them down the middle
using a hammer & a nail, to make them into 4 thinner pieces.
Laying all the pieces out & using a cheap dry chip board paint brush (about $0.50 at Pat
Catans) & any random colors of left over paint I could find in my
garage or craft bin, each one got a quick dry brushing of color.
Hold the brush about an inch away
from the piece, keeping it very dry with paint...& lightly brush it
back & forth, barely touching the actual wood. Just enough to add
some color, but not overdoing it. This will secure that "worn &
weathered" look. Make it look as worn, or as contemporary as you wish.
When the wood pieces are dry, paint your words. There is no right or wrong way to do this & SO many possibilities. I just freehand lettered mine with a paintbrush. If you aren't as blessed with the gift of handwriting as I am, there are ways to transfer & stencil your own letters. You can find these all over Pinterest.
My words are destinations of
places that are significant to me & to trips I've taken. Rather than the basic "Orlando", "New York City", or "Chicago" city signs, I chose to
make mine as specific as possible, & tried to avoid using cities or
states.
I considered all kinds of
different options here before settling on these. My decorating theme
though is modern, old world tourism inspired.. which is why I chose
these particular destinations. Use anything you want - names of your family
members, action words (live, laugh, love), song lyrics, whatever your
little heart desires.. run with it!!
*Peep that black & white picture collage of my silhouette against the ever-stunning Manhattan skyline. I'll post about that soon.
These signs almost went up in 3
different places in my dining room. First on a flat wall right next to
the kitchen entrance, but I like them better in my corner. Each one is
held into the wall with a single nail or two.
Excuse my messy dining room.
The decorative yard stake at the
bottom was a real stake was found in the garden section at Home Depot.
They were marked at $3 each. I found the most beat up one I could. The
lady at the register really didn't know what to do with it & dubbed
it as "scrap wood" & ended up giving it to me for free. It's also
held in the wall with a single nail at the very top.
