HOME DIY Upcycle Sign And Heartfelt Essay

Home...It is simply defined in the dictionary as a noun that is a place where one lives presently, especially as a member of a family or household.

The place where one lives is also a place where one experiences events, and seeks and finds comfort within its walls. Home truly is where your heart is. A family member of mine was experiencing some problems recently and was going through transitions that were emotional on every level.

The final healing move for her was to find herself a new home. She went looking and saw this and that and still after months of looking had not found the one. She was just about to give up looking for a while when she walked into this last one and felt a sense of calm and peace. She knew nearly immediately that this would be the house for her! When I spoke with her she told me "I knew I was home"! It radiated off her face, her smile was her heart smiling, she felt relieved and happy. This made me extremely happy too. She had a gathering at her home as soon as she could and was "moved in" and I attended and of course, I brought her an upcycled sign as a housewarming gift.

It simply says  HOME

Finished Home sign using old bar woods and found letters & objects

Here's a couple of directions if you'd like to make your own.

Finding wood or purchasing woods is the first thing you do. I like to use older pieces that I can find. One can make new wood look old with paint, and color chalk wax, and of course as much sandpaper as possible. Here I found these reclaimed wood slats at my favorite store, Hobby Lobby. A true bonus, the slats were on sale buy one get one for half price; you know I bit on that!  They are gray in color and are great looking just as they are. But I did find letters that were lighter in nature so I did want to paint it.

Pretty

I did get several splinters on this project

The slats are thin, however, so I did have to glue them together. See in the foreground of this picture the Wood Glue I used. I have used many different types of glue in the past and wow some of them I am sure I lost a few brain cells on! So very strong. So I went with the Elmer's Wood Glue to be safe as I also was doing my project inside.

Here you can see me in the planning stages, I set up the found letters and flower motif and the little scroll pieces. And once again I will use my Ann Sloan Chalk Paint and Wax. I like the color Old Ochre and this time I will use the dark wax on this piece.

I amply glued the wood slats together with the wood glue and then banded them tightly together, and stuck it out on the porch.

the planning stages

I left it soaking with glue all day on the porch.

I love the quirky signs I make, I think they add a bit of levity. I almost always add something like a house number or a key or a metal flower or even silk flowers if for use only indoor (these look great as the letter "O"). I had a problem with the letter "M" this time, I wanted one in script writing but I could only find a large one! I settled for this one and immediately wanted to paint it either shocking pink or teal. I settled for the teal. I used a simple acrylic paint and also applied the dark wax over the top to seal it. I used a ton of sandpaper on this project. I scraped up the "M" and the scrolls adding the same type of paint process to the scrolls as the "M". Once the glue was dry, I dry brushed the chalk paint across both slats and did sanding, then applied a clear wax to seal it.

Note my trusted spongy brush? Use this thing everywhere! Paint here cost
.99c

My next trusted friend is my E6000 glue, which is what I normally use to apply letters and motifs. It works fabulously with the signs I have already made, so I'll continue with that. I am lucky to have found letters and objects that are not heavy. The house numbers are the heaviest thing. I make sure that a heavy object is overly glued,(i.e. book or weights are placed on top overnight). I would find it embarrassing if a project fell apart! I stuck a picture hanger on the back (it was the sharp version so easy in, and then I placed two dots of glue on it. 

I did add a bit more acrylic teal to the scroll motifs, and toweled it
off, for a subtle yet painted look. Then sanded and waxed.

I hoped you liked this DIY Upcycled Sign.

Update: The party was a success and she is happy, she's already found a little place to hang her Home sign (she loved it) and my hope is that she'll continue to smile from her heart and create tons of happy memories in her new home.