DIY Street Sign

How do you like Nadia’s newly-painted bathroom door? I don’t know about you, but I love it. Totally worth the back-breaking work. I am gung-ho about painting all the other doors and closets in our home. My husband (who arrived Tuesday from his Grand Tour of West Africa) is not too impressed about white doors. Philistine!

I bet you noticed the sign on top of her door. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I love worn-out street signs, and I wanted to include one as part of the decor, and I guess in the end, rather than risk jail time, it was DIY or nothing.

I love worn-out street signs, and I wanted to include one as part of the decor, and I guess in the end, rather than risk jail time, it was DIY or nothing. — Posted on Flickr by lovethiscity. Click to see original.

This is an actual sign on that street. It’s the Princess Street in Copenhagen. I have a lot of pictures I’ve taken in Europe of these signs.

I wasn’t going for an exact copy of this sign, so I don’t mind the differences, it’s not like anyone is going to believe mine is actual street signage. I mean, those suckers are bolted to the walls, and it’s impossible to pry them off no matter how hard one tries… er, so I’ve heard. I love worn-out street signs, and I wanted to include one as part of the decor, and I guess in the end, rather than risk jail time, it was DIY or nothing.

Click on the pictures below to see photos and instructions:

I printed the outlined text on my printer, I split the long name in two lines to only use one piece of paper (would somebody think of the planet!), then I glued it with liquid silicone to a thin piece of cork board. I printed a mirror image so the side exposed would be the right one (the paper will be on the back of the letters). The iron (turned off) is keeping the cork board (which comes in rolls) from curling while the glue dries. The texture of the cork is pretty close to that of cast metal (you could use “passepartout”, or other thick cardstock). Using a very sharp scalpel, I cut out the letters as close to the original printout as possible.

Place letter on the background to verify that it looks perfectly spaced and aligned before glueing. Outline with a pencil where the letters will be glued later.

I painted the letters white, gave it two coats of acrylic paint to fill up the holes in the cork but still keep the texture.

I then stained them using a used coffee filter, rubbing them in a downwards motion, like the stains that would occur naturally with dirty water falling on them over a long period of time.

I glued the letters to the wood with liquid silicone, checking another printout to make sure that the letters are positioned correctly.

I painted the background with a mixture of paints textured to resemble old, peeling paint on metal.

While the glue dried, I used two different shades of grey acrylic paint to paint the board, and make it look like the top, darker paint was old and faded. When going over the gray I kept the brush very dry to leave random areas unexposed. I then used ocher and a dark red to paint some “stains” on the board. This is totally free-style. There’s really no right way to go about it.

Finished bit applying more coffee stains on letters and background to “oldify” it.

If you have one of those cutout gadgets, then it’s a great thing to use, instead of cutting the letters by hand.

You’ll notice a change in the font in the final product, I found one I liked better and was closer to the real sign, so I redid it.

This is the sign I made. Want to do something similar? It’s pretty easy. Use a rectangular piece of wood that is sanded smooth and you’ll get something closer to the real street sign. The piece of wood the sign is made of came with some hooks that I removed and installed directly on a door, it had a similar shape to street signs I’d seen in Denmark. My husband is the one that suggested this street in specific.