Another project finished! My sister had mentioned a while ago that she wanted to get a sign for outside near their pinspired firepit. She found this one and saved it to her outdoor Pinterest board. I said it was totally do-able without spending the big bucks on the ones on Etsy which happened to be much smaller than what my sis had in mind.
I was going to see if I could swipe a pallet from work and deconstruct it to make the sign. But then my husband wanted to clean out the utility room and remove a shelf that was probably built in 1950 at the same time as the house. It was old and would sway if you pushed it with your finger on one of the sides. So we moved it outside of the garage to be taken to the curb the next trash day.
Well one day shortly after coming home and seeing the shelf outside of the garage a little light bulb popped up. Why not tear apart the shelf and use the boards from the shelves to make the sign! So I went outside with a hammer and took the shelf apart to get the shelf boards. The sides were 2 x 8 and I'm not sure what to do with them right now.
No, this was not finished in the fall. I finished it up just last Friday. We have oak trees in our yard that don't really lose all their leaves until spring when the new ones come out. So we don't bother cleaning up leaves until spring. And by cleaning up leaves I mean running them over with the lawn mower and a mulching blade... But the leaves cover up the dead brown grass pretty well.
So I basically cut three of the shelves to the same length and used the saw table to rip down the edges of two of the boards so that the finished sign was 20" wide. I cut three boards for the back then went to town sanding off the old paint with an orbital sander. I sanded it almost all the way but loved the dark lines that were left.
Then I applied some wood glue to the edges and placed the boards next to each other (making sure the perfect cut edges were against the center board so the old edges were on the outside). Then I placed the boards across the back and put in 1" long screws to hold everything secure. I'm just loving the look of the old wood!
Then it was ready for some paint! I used my Silhouette to cut out a variety of fonts and the fire pit shape in some 12" x 12" card stock. I held the card stock stencils onto the board with some painter's tape and used a small sponge to dab the paint inside the stencil.
Then I toasted "toasted" with two shades of a cream colored paint and some brown paint. After the paint dried I covered the front, edges, and back with about 6 coats of a matte finish Rustoleum sealer.
It's not perfect. The spacing on some of the words could have been closer and there were some spots where the paint bled under the stencil, but I love those imperfections. They show the love that went into making this lovely sign.
The finished sign is about 20" x 30". The best part about this project? It cost a whopping $4.00 for a can of spray sealer. Everything else I already had at home. Not to mention it recycled an old shelf that was just headed for the landfill. And I still have a couple beautifully sanded boards for some other project in the future. I'm thinking maybe a Corbet Family Est. 2005 sign.
Now Kelly and Eric just have to figure out how they want to hang it!
Any ideas on what I can make with the two 2 x 8 boards I have left? They are about 4-1/2 feet long. I'm thinking maybe a bench for outside? Any thoughts?
Updated to add:
A smaller version of this sign is for sale in my Etsy shop! Just click HERE to view all my hand painted signs. Looking for a custom size? Just send me a message via Etsy or E-mail and I build it as large as you like. Just be advised that pricing and shipping costs are more with a larger sign.
Linking up here:
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