Sunday, April 22, 2012

$10 Makes a Big Impact

So you all know I love Pinterest! :0)  If you don't, you must live under a rock.  Well I get really serious about my pins.  I will work on actually doing those things I pin!  I don't just pin and dream....I pin and complete! 

This project was pinned out of necessity.  We have a beautiful painting over our fireplace, that took forever for us to agree on.



We also had a huge empty space over our couch (on the opposite wall from the fireplace).  We wanted something to put on the wall, but didn't want anything that might clash with our painting.  So I found this project on Pinterest and fell in love with the idea.  I think it looks perfect!!  All we need now is some antique gables to turn into wall sconces and the project will be complete!






So this project really did only cost me $10.00!!  Below are the down and dirty steps I took to create the simple, cheap project that made a big impact on our living room. (I adapted my steps from this blog post on the Shanty 2 Chic blog)

Materials:  8 - 40 inch pieces of poplar wood (we used scraps from Joe's mom's house)
                  Dark stain (already had it from previous projects)
                  sock filled with misc. nails and screws
                  Sanding block (fine grit - already had it from other projects)
                  Letting cut out of the Cricut Machine on Clear Contact Paper (Vickie has a   
                           cricut machine, and had some contact paper laying around the house.)
                  wood glue (already had it from previous projects)
                  foam brush (already had some in my craft desk)
                  off-white acrylic paint (already had some in my craft desk)
                  Wall Mount Kit ($7.00 at Ace Hardware)
                   Foam backing disks ($3.00 at Ace Hardware)

Steps:
1.  Cut all your boards to the exact same length.

2.  "Distress" the wood.  I took the bag of nails and banged it on the wood.  I also scrapped the edges of the wood on the driveway.

3.  Stain the wood pieces the color of your choice.

4.  Use wood glue to glue all your pieces together.

5.  Cut out your lettering from the Cricut machine onto contact paper.  You could use a stencil and an Exacto knife if you don't have a lettering machine.

6.  I first placed the actual letters from the contact paper onto my wood panel to make sure they were the right size and placement. (I had to re-cut letters b/c my first letters were too small).

7.  Place the outline of the letters from the contact paper in the proper place and use the white paint and sponge brush to fill in the homemade stencil. Let dry completely.

8.  Use a sanding block to lightly sand over the wording so it looks more blended with the wood.

9.  Place 8 felt disks on the back of the piece to avoid scratching the wall.

10.  Have your husband add the wall mounting kit to the back of the boards, and have him hang it perfectly on the wall. :)

The best part is that you can customize this project to fit your family perfectly!

No comments:

Post a Comment