DIY Scrabble Tile Wall Decor

*Please note we are not professionals. Projects and products depicted in this blog are not to be taken as advice, but as inspiration only. 

ALSO NOTE: I cannot offer advice about this project. This is just to show you how I created the project for my own personal use.

How I Made My Own Over-Sized Letter Tiles Wall Decor
Hubby and I are recently empty-nesters. Well, not exactly. Our older daughter has moved into her own place in a city about 40 minutes from us. And our younger daughter is currently traveling with a missions group. She will return this summer for a month before leaving again for another year. So, basically Hubby and I are on our own.

It was really hard at first. Both our kids left within a month of each other. We went from being a family of four, to a couple again. As young parents, we'd dreamed of the day when our kids would be independent, and Hubby and I could finally have a chance to travel and "date" again. But I never realized how much a family dynamic changes when the kids grow up.

I decided I wanted to celebrate the fact that we're still a family, even if parts and pieces of us are scattered a bit. So, I'm working on a gallery wall above our basement stairs. Part of that wall is our names in over-sized Scrabble style wood letter tiles.

You've probably seen these on Pinterest. If you've thought about doing them, I say go for it! These turned out even better than I'd imagined. Here's how I did it.

Cutting My Tiles
Hubby cut the tiles from 1x6 boards. They measure 5.5 x 5.5 inches. He even sanded the edges for me. Gotta love that man! If you don't have the time or tools to do this, check out these pre-cut wood squares on Amazon.
I goofed on how many tiles we needed. I counted each letter in our names, but forgot that some of the letters would be shared (like the K in the girls' names). So I ended up with a few extra tiles.

Painting The Tiles
Next, I had a decision to make. I've seen these tiles in many different finishes, and I really like ALL of them. Should I leave the wood natural? Stain it dark brown? Gray? Paint it black with white letters? The possibilities! I decided to do a combination style for a distressed grayish-white look that would match my farmhouse decor. I began by painting the tiles with white SATIN latex paint--just the front and sides. The back I left plain wood.

Printing & Tracing
Next, I printed the letters/numbers out on paper and colored on the back with a pencil. (I'll include the printable letters at the end of this post). I then traced these onto my tiles. I filled the letters in with black craft paint. The numbers were so small, I decided to fill these in with Sharpie. The marker dries out pretty fast. Each letter/number takes two coats of paint.

Sanding The Edges
The next step was to sand the edges of each tile. I used a sanding block, but you could use an electric sander, too. I wanted just a bit of raw wood on the corners and edges for the next step, which is gray stain.

Staining Over The Paint
I used rubber gloves for this next part. I wore an apron, too. Using a brush, I applied wood stain in Carbon Gray to the sanded edges, and all around the sides of the block. With a cotton towel, I wiped the stain away and also rubbed it into the wood, spreading it lightly around for an antiqued finish.

Hanging My Tiles
Now I had all my tiles, and they looked even better than I'd hoped! But I had a dilemma. How do people hang these on the wall? One at a time? That seems crazy! I came up with a plan to use a thin piece of wood to connect the tiles and create one giant piece of art. Hubby agreed and did all the hard work. He then attached a couple saw-tooth hangers to the back for hanging. Did I mention I love that man?

All Done!
I did a quick layout on the floor to see where other pieces would fit with my tiles. I am planning to add a few more things, like the word "family" and maybe the letter S or number 4. But I love how it looks on the wall!

So, what about you? Think you'll give this project a try?


*Please note we are not professionals. Projects depicted in this blog are not to be taken as advice, but as inspiration only. 

Want more ideas? Check out my post on How to Transfer an Image to Wood.
To download the printable letters, click each one and right click to save the image or print it.
Please note the size. There are 4 letters on each 8.5x11 inch printable sheet. So each letter fits in a space that is approximately 5.5 x 4.25 inch.

 

 

Why I'll Never Make Another 3-Tiered Tray. Probably.

My Attempt at Making a Three-Tiered Tray
You've likely been to the home décor stores and seen all the cute little three-tiered trays. Some are round, some are rectangular. Some are metal, some are wood. But pretty much all of them are... expensive!

For years now, I've been under the impression that I can make/fake just about anything, and I can do it CHEAPER. So, why wouldn't this concept apply to a three-tiered tray? Right?

Wrong. So, so wrong.

When I set out to make my very own farmhouse style tray, I thought it would be very straightforward and simple. Not to mention sooooo much cheaper than the $50-$100 these things cost in stores.

The Trays
The first thing I needed was, of course, the trays. In various sizes. Three of them. First, I searched and searched the thrift stores. I knew I'd seen trays there before. Heck, I'd even bought a couple and made them over. But could I find any this time? No. Not a one. Okay, there was one, but it had ceramic tiles glued to it. Bleck.

So, on to my never-fail source for everything... the Internet! There were LOTS of trays for sale there. On Amazon, Walmart, Ebay. Of course, the new ones were EXPENSIVE. Just to buy three of them, I might as well have purchased the finished product at Hobby Lobby. I needed something CHEAPER!

So, I found a cute set of nesting trays on Ebay. They had a sunflower pattern painted inside and were green outside, but who cared! They were PERFECT. I ordered them and waited for the mail to arrive with my oh-so-awesome thrifty nesting trays.

Well, they arrived. In a very tiny box. We're talking smaller than a piece of printing paper. Hmmm. Yep, upon opening them, I realized they might work for the top and middle tiers of my stand, but definitely not the bottom one. Back to the Internet.

I found another set of nesting trays on Amazon. They were big and got good reviews. A little pricey, but hey, now I was INVESTED. I ordered the trays.

Looking for similar trays?
Take a look at these nesting trays on Amazon

The Middle Pieces
Next, I needed the middle pieces. And what could work better than wooden candlesticks? Now, I
know I'd seen these at the thrift stores at least a hundred times. But could I find any? Yes. Two, in fact.... but that was after I'd already ordered four on Amazon.

Candlesticks on Amazon

This venture was getting awfully pricey. And it was about to get worse. I talked to Hubby about my awesome plan, and told him his role... to make the whole thing stick together in a way that was sturdy and could be carried around. We bought lots of hardware stuff. Metal rods that looked like giant screws and some kind of other screw-thingy for the top and a couple nuts and bolts and what not.

Then Hubby tried to drill a hole through the first, biggest candlestick... and cracked it. We realized drilling a perfectly straight, teensy hole through the middle of three candlesticks requires special equipment that we neither had nor could afford.

So, Hubby came up with method 2. The dowel method. He drilled out the tops and bottoms of the candlesticks and used a dowel to connect them, gluing the whole thing to the trays. See photos because I have no idea how to explain this.

As for the "pretty" bit, I just primed the trays with Zinsser primer. (Except the trays I ordered on Amazon. Those suckers were SHINY. So, I sprayed them with a thin layer of black spray paint first, hoping to add a little adhesive power, then I primed them.) And I painted them in an antique white.  I did the same to the candlesticks. I tried sanding for a distressed look, but because all the trays were different colors, textures, materials, this did not look good. So, I opted to do a dry brush technique.

 Using a dark, charcoal gray acrylic paint (just a Walmart craft paint called "Pavement") I dipped a rough paint brush, wiped it almost dry on a paper towel, then light brushed the trays, letting their texture pull small bits of paint off my brush.

Hubby assembled my trays. They are quite wobbly, but will likely hold together as long as I'm not too hard on them. I AM very happy with the result, but I would NOT do it again. Here's why.

• This was a lot of work and did not turn out very sturdy.
• Cost.

A breakdown of the cost:
Small sunflower trays on Ebay: $16
Amazon trays: $20
Candlesticks on Amazon: $16
Candlesticks from thrift store: $4
Dowel: $2
Pricey Hardware: Planning to return. I hope.
Paint and other stuff I had on hand already.

So, in total, this project cost almost $60. Now, granted I could make another tray. I have enough materials. But the price was enough I could have saved lots of time and headache just buying a new one that was sturdy and already assembled.

Lesson learned.

Well... maybe. :)

Read about this Farmers' Market Bench Makeover

Depression-Era Hutch Makeover

I scored this sweet depression-era hutch recently and gave it a fabulous makeover! Check out this photo-heavy post:

BEFORE: She was so dark and brown, not bad, but scratched up. I just knew a coat of white paint and a little distressing would really bring out her curvy details!

AFTER! This hutch is lighter, brighter and full of chippy charm!

Before & After!

 

Shabby Breadbox Makeover

Have you ever had an epiphany? One of those ah-ha! moments? That was me a few days ago. I have been thinking long and hard about selling our house. This has led me to evaluate every room, trying to understand my design style and weeding out anything that doesn't go with that style so if/when we move, I won't take a bunch of unwanted junk with us.

I'm transitioning from a traditional style (dark woods & fabrics) to a more vintage/shabby/French Farmhouse style (shades of white and gray, worn & weathered woods). So, in my quest to weed out the uglies, I found myself in the kitchen cleaning out a corner cabinet. When I was finished, the cabinet was organized, and the counter that had once held cleaning supplies, a toaster, a blender, a mixer, a fruit basket, a bread box, and two knife blocks now had one knife block, a bread basket, and cleaning supplies. I felt SO cool.

But then I took another look. Eeek! That breadbasket is a blonde wood. I hate blonde wood. And Eeek! again! That knife block is covered in 18 years of grossness dripping down the sides. What to do? If only they were a shabby, distressed white with some cute little gray graphics on them.

Enter EPIPHANY! I can paint ginormous hutches and dining tables. Why not paint the most basic wood items in my kitchen, too?

So, I did. 

I love, love, love how they turned out. I just did a coat of Zinsser primer (no sanding! yay!). Then a coat of satin country white Walmart brand interior paint. After they were dry, I sanded here and there for a lovely distressed look. Then I found a graphic I wanted for the breadbox. (I just free-handed the graphic on the knife block.) I sized the graphic and printed it, colored on the back with willow charcoal (Walmart art supply section) and then traced it onto the breadbox using a dull pencil. Finally, I filled it in with gray paint and when it was dry, sanded the words for a shabby look.

Now my breadbox and knife block match my style. I guess they can come along to the new house. Unless my style changes again between now and the move. :)

Desk Makeover With French Wreath Graphic

Hubby picked up this desk for me. It was a Craigslist find. I wasn't sure what exactly I was going to do with it. I only knew that it was abused and needed love. :)

I began by sanding the top down to the bare wood. It wasn't hard. The finish was practically begging to come off. I didn't sand out all the imperfections though. I like them. Next, I primed/painted the bottom portion of the desk (hardware, too!), then sanded the edges for a rough/chippy look. Finally, I stained the bottom (over the paint), wiping it away to leave behind an antique sheen.

On top, I did a white wash of watered-down latex paint. When it was dry, I also stained over that. It gives the top that driftwood look.Then I traced the graphic on and painted it. 

Thank you Graphics Fairy (see link in sidebar).

 

Here it is with the left side "distressed" so you can see the difference.

 

I think it turned out gorgeous. Could be used as a desk, vanity or even a TV stand! Lots of shabby-chic, cottage loveliness!