This weekend I tried to finish off a couple of projects that I had on the go.  I don’t know about you, but I seem to have two or three projects all underway at once. The battery ran out on the cordless drill half-way through hanging a blind, so I turned my attention to finishing a sign I was making for my laundry. I love the look of rustic signs, whether they’re indoors or outside, and the shabbier the better. I’ve seen a couple of tutorials lately on making signs, so I thought I would give it a try. Here is my first attempt at making a “French” laundry sign.

I would have loved to use a piece of reclaimed timber. But as I had none on hand, I stained and distressed a piece of pine board. The inspiration for my laundry sign came from a great step-by-step tutorial I recently saw on The Cedar Shake Cape. I followed Misty’s method, applying a rough coat of dark grey and then light grey that I mixed up with some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) in Graphite and Old White.  Finishing with a coat of Old White. Once dry, I gave the the whole thing a good sand to distress even further.

I printed out the wording I wanted and stuck them down on the board with sticky tape. I traced out the lettering, pressing hard to leave an indent on the wood. However, I found it hard to see the indent in the wood to accurately paint the lettering. So I followed Canary Street Crafts suggestion and used a watercolor pencil to sketch out the lettering instead of a regular lead pencil. I then used some leftover ASCP in Graphite to paint in the lettering.

For my laundry sign I choose some French wording … Chambre de Blanchisserie … which roughly translates to Laundry Room (please don’t let me down Google Translator!). The true translation is “Chamber(Room) of Laundry” which is how it can feel sometimes when I’m knee deep in a week’s worth of dirty washing.

Once my wording was dry, I gave it another light sand, and then applied a coat of clear wax. I attached two hooks on the back so I could hang it on the wall. I think next time I’ll try painting the lettering in acrylic paint, as I had to go over the chalk paint a couple of times.

I hung the sign over the door way in my laundry room. I’m pretty happy with my first attempt at a homemade sign. It’s not perfect (it may be a little dark for my taste) and with plenty of room for improvement … but I now feel a lot more confident in my sign making ability! I also have a new admiration for the art of hand-lettered sign painting.

For more sign making inspiration, please check out my Pinterest board

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