How to Make a Sign the Lazy Way

If you ever want to figure out how to do something the easy way, ask a lazy person to do it.  True story.

This week, I’m definitely that lazy person.  Olivia is home from preschool for spring break, and we have so many things happening behind-the-scenes that I can’t wait to show y’all.  Basically, this mama needs more coffee to keep up.

But the other day, when I shared our faux zinc office safe makeover, I realized there was one blank spot that needed a little something.

Blank spaces and I… we don’t really get along.  So that blank space above the door needed some signage.

Instead of hand painting letters or printing them out to stencil and everything, I picked up these wooden letters in the craft aisle of Walmart instead.  You know… when I probably was supposed to be shopping for groceries.

Supplies used:  (Affiliate links are provided below.  For more information, see my full disclosure here.)

• Wooden craft letters
• Wood plank
• Paint of your choice (I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Graphite and Fusion Mineral Paint Bedford.)
• Wood stain (I used General Finishes Gel Stain in Antique Walnut.)
• Paint brush
• Dry, clean rag
• Liquid nails
• Hanging kit

The whole thing took just about 30 minutes + drying time.

I painted the wooden letters first with a couple of coats of the ASCP Graphite paint.

For the actual sign itself, I used just a leftover strip of plywood from our bedroom plank wall project.

And ahem… see my hairy little supervisor there?  Lola is always my shadow whenever I’m working on something.

I gave the plywood strip one quick coat of the gel stain and let dry.

Then, using the Fusion Bedford paint, I dry brushed it on top of the dried stain.  If you don’t know what dry brushing is, it’s simply dipping your brush in the paint, wiping the excess off on a dry rag, and painting with the dried brush.

I applied a little bit of Liquid Nails onto the backs of the letters to place them on the wood plank, let dry, added a hanging kit, and that was it.

And now the blank spot above the door is a little more interesting.

It’s about as simple as simple gets, but sometimes that’s the best answer.

Not too long ago, this spot looked like this:

And now I think it’s safe to say this side of the office is finished!  Woot!

Except for all of the chaos that’s in that closet that I don’t want to think about.  We’ll pretend that’s not there, right?  There are no messes in this house.  We are Stepford-Wife-level clean and organized around here. (Wink wink.)

So now we have one more item scratched off the to-do list, even if it was just an itty bitty one.  I’m telling ya.  Even if you’re not a gung-ho DIYer, this one is a piece of cake.   There are lots of different sizes and styles of craft letters out there and you can put whatever words you want.

If your walls are needing some lovin’, you can see more DIY wall decor here.

If you want to check out the rest of the projects in our office, you can find all the links below:

• Office Before Shots and Makeover Mood Board
• DIY RH Inspired French Mute Books
• DIY Vintage Pull-Down Map
• Industrial Shelving
• Faux Zinc Safe Makeover

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