A Sign for the Kitchen

Ever flip through a magazine and keep saying, "Oh, I could totally make that!"? One of the magazines I love to flip through the most is Pottery Barn. Just give me a Pottery Barn home PLEASE! Every page is decoration perfection! Oh, all those vases of flowers? So totally there every day. That table setting? Yeah, my table looks like that every night. Insert hair flip here. Those picturesque freshly picked vegetables in the corner of the kitchen island? I'm gonna make a French Ratatouille with them. No big deal. No, but seriously, who doesn't want their home to resemble all that rustic goodness? Well, Pottery Barn is gonna be PISSED when they see this! JK. No, but really. I always go through every (no exaggeration....every) PB magazine that comes through our home to find things that could easily become diy projects. You know, those cutesy things they sell that are like $100 and you know they aren't actually worth that much? Well this is one of those times that I was like yeah, that's cute, but instead of shelling out 100 for it, I'm gonna make my own version.....for like 10. I've always wanted an "eat" sign in our kitchen. I mean not like we need any encouragement around here, but still. I saw this one from PB and thought I would make a similar version. Here it is.

You will need:
A board (the size depends on where you are putting it, how big you want it, etc. Mine was 24X17.5)
Stain (I used my good old American Walnut. Since now we have so much of it!)
White chalk paint (or regular white craft paint)
Sandpaper
E, A, T Letters
Black craft paint
Wood glue

Step 1. Stain the board. I only did one side, as we won't ever be seeing the back side of it.

Allow to dry.

Step 2. Once the stain is dry, paint 1 or 2 coats of white paint over the stain (I know, I know, it seems silly, but you'll see why). You want enough to cover it, but not completely, as the end result of the sign is supposed to look "rustic".

This is the white paint I used.

I did 2 coats. Allow the white paint to dry completely between coats.

Step 3. Paint your E, A, T letters black (if they aren't black already). You can find letters at the craft store that are black, white and plain wood. So really, just look for the font and size you like, because you can paint them from there.

My white letters needed 2 coats of paint.

Step 4. Sand your white board only in a few places, to give it a worn, rustic, old board look.

Step 5. Glue the E, A, T letters onto the board with wood glue. And remember that a little goes a long way.

Allow to dry.

Then you're finished!

I had the perfect place to just lean my sign up above my cabinets, but if you would rather hang your sign on the wall of your kitchen just get one of those "sawtooth" picture hanging hooks and attach it to the sign, then hang it with a nail. Easy peasy. Lemon, squeezy.

And here is 80 more pictures to show you how happy I am with my new sign.

I mean really! How often can I show off my kitchen when it's actually clean?

We actually have a matching spoon to the fork that's over there, but it keeps falling down! So we are waiting on the hubby to come up with an ingenious way to keep it up there. Velcro was a no-go.

Trying to get a good shot of the chalkboard sign and the eat sign together.

That's all for today my loves! Hope you enjoyed and we'll see you tomorrow!

P.S. In case you are now hungry from all the subliminal messaging going on.....google "White trash panini". Then make it. You'll thank me later. Or go to Taco Bell. That works too.