DIY Irish Blessing Sign and Entryway
Six years ago, I had my first Irish culture encounter.
Robert and I had just gotten engaged and hopped on a flight that summer so I could meet all of his relatives, the whole huge clan.
And…you guessed it…they’re Irish. From the moment I walked in the door to be greeted by his aunts and uncles and dozens of cousins, there was constant laughter, endless hugging, and so much love that exuded from every single one of them. This was family. An Irish family. And I immediately belonged, just like anyone does who is lucky enough to have a few happy Irish people in their lives.
I’m so blessed to be surrounded by that sort of family love every day, and St. Paddy’s Day seemed like the perfect time to kick off a project I’d been meaning to do for months- a DIY Irish Blessing sign. (Two years ago I made a DIY map of Ireland, which you can find the tutorial for here.)
Supplies used: (Affiliate links are provided below for convenience. For more information, see my full disclosure here.)
- Engineer print with your quote of choice (I used the 36×48 size from Staples.)
- Irish Blessing quote printable
- Scissors
- Black tea and paint brush (optional)
- 1/2 inch plywood
- 2 1x2x6 wood boards
- Circular saw (or power saw of your choice)
- Matte Mod Podge
- Wood Stain (I used Minwax Walnut.)
- 2″ finishing nails
- Hammer or nail gun
The best part, if all you have to buy is the wood, engineer print, stain, and Mod Podge, you can make this for about $40. I usually have Mod Podge and stain continuously in my stash, but maybe that’s just me and my crazy DIYness over here.
I had my quote printed onto an engineer print at Staples first. You can download your own free printable here that I made:
It’s really nothing fancy to look at all on its own.
I rolled mine out on our kitchen table and cut on the black line to get rid of the excess paper since I wanted a long, sort of narrow sign. (Coasters apparently make great paper weights.)
I wanted to age the paper since it was so very bright white, so I used my go-to paper aging method of brushing it with some brewed black tea and then let it dry. I used two bags of Luzianne black tea, but it probably doesn’t matter what brand you choose. (I did the same thing to Olivia’s DIY oversized sheet music signs.)
For the wood part, Robert used our circular saw (bless… I’m always putting him to work) to cut the plywood to 48″x16″. He cut the 1x2s to the width of the plywood (48″), then cut two more pieces of the 1x2s for the sides, adding 2 inches to make them 18″ for the frame.
I was a bad blogger y’all, and I didn’t photograph the next couple of steps (oops). I stained the 1×2 pieces with the Minwax Walnut and let them dry.
I brushed the Mod Podge onto the plywood to attach the engineer print to it. Start at one end and work in sections, smoothing the paper down and using an old credit card to press out any air bubbles as you work your way down the plywood to completely adhere the paper.
After the Mod Podge and stain is all dry, nail your 1x2s around the plywood to make a frame. You can see more details about that step here too. That’s it! Yay!
And hopefully, you can get a good idea of how to build it from the after:
So now our entryway makes me want to do a little jig. Teehee!
I’m so excited to have this sweet blessing at the very front of our home to greet guests. And, truthfully, we usually need a blessing of our own as we walk in and out of the front door each day.
In case you notice, I have a touch-up spot of stain to get to on the bottom part of the sign since we had to trim it up. Keepin’ it real.
Target is always out of these cute boxwood wreaths whenever I visit, so the last time when I saw one there, I snatched it right up. I’d make some myself if we actually had boxwood hedges in our yard. No such luck though.
When Robert’s parents visited Ireland last year, they picked up these tweed newsboy caps for us. Aren’t they cuuuute?
I finally replaced one of my Christmas pillow’s covers with this one from H&M.
And more book bundles and IKEA plants because I put these little guys everywhere.
This hallway of ours gets hardly any light and is very narrow, so it’s a bit tricky to photograph.
This space has definitely come a long way in the past year.
Last spring, it looked like this:
Nowadays, it’s looking a little extra cheerful.
You can read more about our entryway and foyer makeover process here and here if you’re new to our neck of the woods…well, suburbs.
By the way, since I get questions fairly often from you guys asking about paint sources and where I’ve bought our decor, I’ve written up a HUGE source list where you can find just about anything in our house. This thing was monstrous to round up, but I hope it will help y’all more easily find what you’re looking for.
Have you put any Irish-y green decor anywhere in your house lately? Or have you jumped ahead to Easter and full-out spring? We have a little bit of everything going on, and I love how much our house has come to life now.
Peace, love, and shamrocks to you, sweet friends!
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