I have been on a major DIY kick in our kitchen/dining area lately. It started a while back when I upgraded this Target clearance bookcase with the “reclaimed wood” look:
Then I added this large DIY chalkboard for a fraction of the store price:
** I seriously didn’t notice how bad those stickers on our kitchen table bench were until I was editing pictures. I swear you just get so used to this stuff that you don’t even notice anymore. Who can relate?!?!? **
I decided to move my DIY decor focus to the right just a tad… to the kitchen. Our kitchen doesn’t have a whole lot of opportunity for decor. It’s a walk-though with cabinets that extend all the way to the ceiling and limited empty wall space.
But I do have a little piece of wall above our kitchen sink window. I opted to paint a little farmhouse style sign to draw your eye up and away from what is usually a sink full of dirty dishes!
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The Supplies
- Unfinished wood rustic pallet sign like this one or this one
- Wood stain – Golden Oak
- white and black paint – something with a flat finish, like chalk paint works best
- paint brushes
- fine grit sandpaper
- stencil
Project Budget Update: My rustic wood pallet from JoAnn was $11, but I used my 4o% off coupon that week. All of my other supplies were already in my craft stash. That means I was able to make this sign for under $7. Score!
The Tutorial – 4 Simple Steps
Step 1: Stain
Just a quick coat of stain here. Instead of pre-treating the wood with something special, I just wipe down the wood with a wet cloth. Then I add a coat of stain. Let sit for 10-15 minutes. Wipe away any excess.
Step 2: Paint
Using a very dry brush (read: don’t add gobs of paint to the brush) add a coat of white paint. You are not looking for perfect coverage here. If some wood peeks through, that’s what you want.
Step 3: Sand
Lightly sand around the edges, until you have the rustic look that you want.
Step 4: Stencil
If you have a stencil that you like, go for it. On projects like this, I just print my letters out in Microsoft work and trace them with pencil.
Then fill in the letters with black paint.
The End Result
Want to see more of my plank wall entry? Check out the full reveal here:
