Painted Farmers Market Sign

I have this big open space on the wall in my kitchen, above the sliding door, that has been driving me crazy. I hate open wall space. I made a quick sign today and it was surprisingly easy!I had this cupboard door in my garage from a long-ago ReStore purchase. I gave it a couple of coats of Valspar's Crystal Aqua that I had on hand.

After that dried, I measured how big I wanted my letters, and cut it with my Silhouette out of vinyl. I used the Pottery Barn font, which I downloaded for free.
I removed the letters, since I was going to use the negative space as a stencil. Next, I used transfer tape to ensure it wouldn't get all tangled when I applied my stencil to the board. A tape measure is your friend when it comes to spacing.
I stenciled it with black paint. After that dried, I lightly sanded the whole sign to distress the letters, and edges of the board. Last, I LIGHTLY wiped on and off some antiquing glaze to age it a bit.
I WANTED it to look this way. ;)
Hopefully you can see the distressing in these outdoor pictures. I almost wanted to see through the black letters a bit.

It's now happily hung in it's new home above the sliding glass door in the kitchen.

Linking up to Beneath My Heart's "Best DIY Projects of March"

Spindle Gallery

Last week, I made something out of some spindles I bought at a antique store. I'm a sucker for salvaged, chippy pieces.
I used some extra 2x2's that were hangin' out in my garage. First, I painted two coats of Valspar Green River. After that dried, I whitewashed them with some acrylic white paint. Last, I sanded the edges, and wiped on some antique glaze.
You're left with wood that shows all three colors: green, white, and black. I was winging it, not really knowing WHAT I wanted, but knowing I wanted it to look worn to match the super worn spindles.
I pre-drilled the holes at an angle to prevent splitting, then used long screws. Last, I used a staple gun to attach chicken wire to the back.

It turned out pretty good! I wasn't originally planning on making it this wide, but I was too lazy to get out my saw and cut the 2x2's. ;) My gallery wall needed changed anyways, it's been the same since we moved in about 5-6 years ago!

Mini "Barn Door"

Yesterday I worked on this... This is how it began.... I rescued it from the pile of stuff at the antique dealer's property for a whopping $2.
I didn't take step by step pics because, let's face it, I'm impatient and hate to stop working on a project. My time is limited so I just focus on getting it done.
I bought this set of hinges for less than $3 at Lowe's. They were natural, shiny metal, I just spray painted them black. I screwed those in first to make it look kind of like a mini barn door. I know this is not how the hinge actually works, but it's just for decoration. I found that little lion knocker at the antique dealer's house as well. I got a bag of knobs, pulls, and rusty metal pieces for $5 so this was less than a buck.
I bought this wooden piece at Lowe's for $6, having it in mind for a different project, but it wasn't big enough. SO, I thought it would work perfectly to tie in the color from the hutch. I painted it with the same Kiwi Kissed paint, then used Valspar Antiquing Glaze to age it a bit.
I used two TINY pin-type nails to hang it.
I put one long screw through the top of it, and into the wall. My husband said yesterday that he is like OSHA and I am like a unlicensed contractor. Ha ha! He always wants me to make my stuff kind of "earthquake safe". So, he's happy with how I handled this one. ;)
A close up of the lion knocker. TELL me that is not cute!

I totally love it on top of the hutch, and it helps with the enormous amount of wall space above it. (You can't see how high the ceiling is in these pictures)