DIY Industrial Laundry Sign

I hate laundry. Anyone else with me on that?

It’s that task that I always put off to do. And don’t even get me started on the pains of ironing.

Our laundry room has been empty since we came into our home. A brand new washing machine and dryer did fill the floor space, but the walls have been empty ever since. We would like to add some storage cabinets on the walls, but that’s one of those snowball projects that is pushed to "some day".

So, I decided to add some decorative stuff on the adjacent walls at least, and what better way than to create a hand painted, industrial LAUNDRY sign. (Just in case no one knew what was going on in this little area.)

Here’s what you need to make a vintage rustic Industrial LAUNDRY sign. Or you could use the idea to make something similar for any room!

Materials:

• A piece of wood - I used some recycled wood I had lying around the garden of our home.We used a hand saw to cut the piece to the size we wanted.
• Sandpaper/ Sanding block
• Computer print out and a pencil
• Wax crayons
• Clear timber wax polish 
• Metal bits: 

1. Kinetic 15 x 150mm Galvanised Pipe
2. Kinetic 15mm Galvanised Flange
3. Kinetic 15mm Female Galvanised Tee

Instructions:

1. First we cut the piece of wood with a saw and sanded the entire piece of recycled wood along with the edges. I used a cloth to wipe away the fine dust.
   
   
   
   

   

   
   
2. After the wood was sanded, I printed out the word LAUNDRY on my computer to the size I needed. I used a regular font as I only wanted an outline to give me some idea of the size and placement.
   
   
3. I used a waxed crayon to color the back of the printout, placed it on wood, and then with a pencil, I traced the outline of each letter onto the wood where I wanted it to go, but the correct way. This rubbing effect transfers the pencil outline via the wax crayon from the back of the printout onto the piece of wood.
   
   
   

   

   
   
4. After transfer, I painted them in with black acrylic paint. I didn’t fill in the letters perfectly going for the vintage look.
   
   
   
   
5. I took some sandpaper and sanded off the paint in some spots as well. You can see I smudged the letter "R" a little bit, but that seemed to vanish after sanding and waxing.
6. Then I finally finished it off with a good wax to seal it up and add some sheen and finish.
   
   
    
   
   The clear wax works like magic! Look at that gorgeous wood grain and color coming through!
   
   
   
   

   

   
   
7. Next step is optional, but hubs helped me attach the fun metal bits to the wall to give it the industrial look. (Now it goes with the industrial pipe lights in the dining room, and the pipe fittings on our entertainment unit!) A trip to Bunnings got us all the tidbits we needed. It is so much fun when we share the madness of home decorating!

Here’s my fun industrial LAUNDRY sign hanging on the wall. I think I'm addicted and will make lots more!

I love how it looks! What do you think?

DIY Pantry Door Upgrade!

Our open plan living-dining-kitchen area works great for all purposes, but I wanted to add some fun to this boring kitchen pantry wall. We have two big pantry cupboards which I love, but all seemed too white in this area of the home with no texture or interest.



I, of course Googled and Pinterested (is that even a word?) around to get a lot of ideas, and the most inspirational for me was this blog from Sherri. I wanted to convert my pantry flat doors into a paneled door with trim and a chalkboard.

I'm sure you've seen lots and lots of blog posts of completely transformed doors, and I am going to share with you one simple transformation that is so easy and fab to do, and the best part is you can use this method to dress up whichever room door you like.

Supplies:

• Decorative trim (We got this one from Bunnings)
• Tape measure
• Tooth saw
• Pencil 
• Clear timber varnish
• Miter box (for cutting at 45 degree angles)
• Liquid nails/Wood glue
• Door Primer (We used some wall primer we had lying around the house from when we painted the walls)
• Paints:
      - Acrylic paint (if you want to paint your trims)
      - Chalkboard paint
• Sanding block/Sand paper/ Sanding machine
• Spirit level 

DIY Powder Room Refresh!

We had been contemplating this for awhile, and there seemed to be something missing in the Powder Room even though the walls had been painted, including my faux Carrara marble design wall. Adding texture is the easiest way to create interest in a small room, and hence the idea of the marble. It has 2 coats of varnish to give it some sheen.