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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

you had me at hello

That's what I want people to say about our home. I want people to feel welcome when they first walk in the door. If our front door was more accessible, I think we would feel we've accomplished this. Unfortunately, our side door which leads into our mud room is right off the driveway and is the most accessible and most used entrance. Our mud room is still a work in progress - Josh and I are still not sure what to do with the space...besides hang our coats.

As we attempt to figure it out, I aim to still make people feel welcome in this disheveled space. So, I decided to make a sign that will greet people when they first walk through the door. greet them with a hello.

My first step was to pick a font that would translate well into a wooden sign; one that didn't have too many small cutouts. I chose the font Black Jack. Then I got each letter enlarged - you can do this at any local copy shop. Then I cut out each letter.


After they were all cut out, I taped them together and traced them onto my piece of wood. As you can see, I modified my font a bit. Truth be told, I wanted to free-hand it, but I knew it just wouldn't look as clean. But I did want the 'o' to look like the way I make my cursive 'o'. Hence, the modification.




This next step requires someone handy, unless you're allowed to use power tools, which Josh has informed me, I am not.


We (and when I say we, I mean Josh) cut out the letters using a jigsaw. Then he sanded the edges and the places where the jigsaw had made a couple digs.


Next was painting. I wanted a cheerful, inviting color, so of course I chose yellow. Happy day for me when I realized that I had picked yellow when ordering my free valspar paint sample. Dijon to be exact.


After a couple coats and some questioning remarks from Josh, I added some brown to tone it down and make it a more mustardy yellow.


And here is the finished product:


i love the bright yellow against the white brick wall. and it definitely makes me smile when I walk in the door.

more to come on the progress/styling of this room...

This project has been linked to:

16 comments:

  1. thats awesome! looks great!

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  2. ok THAT is cool! Love the color..
    Tana

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  3. Thanks for the kind words. :)

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  4. Hey cool girl! I found your blog through the Remodelaholic. I loved your table, and your Hello sign is pretty sweet. Just wanted to let you know. :) I'm a new follower too.

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  5. Hi Shelby!
    Found you on Remodelaholic ... love your stuff! I just built a table that I put on my blog, too ... but yours is way cooler!
    Great job!
    I'm a new follower!
    ~Bec @ littlelucylu

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  6. Love this! very welcoming :-)

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  7. Love this:) I chose orange for my free valspar paint sample...seemed cool at the time. Not sure what I'm going to do with it:)

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  8. Shelby, this really looks awesome! I love the idea and the final product!

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  9. Cheryl, orange is a great color! I'm sure you'll find something awesome to paint!

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  10. I love how it turned out! Looks like something out of a magazine.

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  11. Such a fun sign. I could see it on a wreath hanging on my front door. You ought to consider selling them.

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  12. Wow this is great. Like you, I love the colors. A great alternative to 'welcome'. I found you on The 36th Avenue's Let's Party # 5 list. Creative people inspire me and this project is an example so I decided to follow you to see what else you will do. I hope you will follow me back http://talesfrommyjournal.blogspot.com I can be found in facebook too http://www.facebook.com/DeniseMartin.LillaRose and twitter @DeniseLillaRose If you like/follow me there I will do the same for you. When you stop by my blog, please check out my kind of fashion (hair jewelry).

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  13. Awesome! I love it! Great color - I love the look of against the white brick too!

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  14. This is so cute!!! And the color is awesome, so bright and cheerful.

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Will blog for comments.