DIY antique laundry sign

I hate laundry. You with me?

It’s that never-ending task that haunts me. There’s always laundry to do. There’s either sorting, washing, drying, folding, or putting it away. And don’t even get me started on ironing.

Our laundry is in a closet off our first floor half bathroom. Not ideal but it works. We’ve thought about moving it to the second floor and creating a real laundry room but that’s one of those snowball projects. If we move the laundry area then we should redo the adjacent closet and then maybe turn it into a home office but then where will the storage area go?

So we’ve decided to keep our first floor laundry closet for now but revamp it a bit. And that project deserves it’s own post coming next week. Stay tuned – the results are really good.

I don’t want to give too much away about this new space yet, but one thing I decided to do for it was make a hand painted, antique looking LAUNDRY sign. Just in case no one knew what was going on in this little area.

And even though this sign says LAUNDRY, this technique can be used for any sign with typography – and those are so hot right now!

Here’s what you need to make an antique LAUNDRY sign – or any sign with type:

• A piece of wood
I used pine because I love all the knots and it’s soft enough to add an antique look to it. But I did cheat and had Home Depot cut the piece for me. I highly recommend this service! This is a good way to get what you need before making any big tool purchases.

• antiquing materials {sandpaper, tea bags, paint in desired colors, shoe polish, hammer}

• computer print out and a pencil

• hanging hardware – I used 1/2″ cup hooks

Instructions:

1. Since I was going for an antique look, I tried lots of different techniques on the wood. First I sanded the entire piece of wood and made the edges and corners slightly rounded. Then I had a cup of tea. Not really. I brewed tea and rubbed the tea bags onto the wood. This didn’t make a big difference but it did add a slightly darker tone to the wood. Then I rubbed the black and brown shoe polish into the wood. This really had a cool effect on the finish. It was darker in some areas and more transparent in others. It really got into the wood. I used a combination of white & gray paints to continue with my antique/worn look. I didn’t put a full coat of either color down because I wanted to see some of the wood finish and also the shoe polish colors. I used very little paint each time and filled in areas as I liked. I also used a cloth to wipe away and just kept layering until I got the look I wanted.

2. After the wood was stained, polished and painted, I took a hammer and banged it up. I just hammered away until the wood had little notches in it. This was fun. I hammered the edges too so they weren’t so straight.

3. Next I printed out the word LAUNDRY on my computer to the size I needed. I used a serif font called FB Californian but Times Roman or Palatino are good choices for a sign like this. I also printed the type just as an outline to save ink.

4. I taped the printout to a window, but backwards. Then with a pencil, I traced the outline of each letter onto the back of the printout.

5. Then, I placed the printout onto the wood where I wanted it to go, but the correct way. With my pencil, I rubbed along the outline of each letter. This rubbing effect transfers the pencil outline from the back of the printout onto the piece of wood.

6. When all the letters are done being transferred, I painted them in with black acrylic paint. I didn’t fill in the letters perfectly – remember going for that weathered look.

7. I took some sandpaper to all this goodness to finish the antique look. Then I attached the hanging hardware. I used 1/2″ cup hooks which I also gave the antique look with some sandpaper.

Here’s my one-of-a-kind, antique LAUNDRY sign! I love old signs and think they make really great decorative pieces.

Here’s a sneak peek at how it looks in my new laundry area. But you’ll have to wait to see how this space all came together next week. Such a tease! Enjoy your weekend!