After showing you my new potting bench a couple weeks ago, I realized that while the table is nice, the rest of the area is a little sad and lonely looking. I thought it needed some outdoor art to liven things up! I put on my thinking cap and came up with a cute idea for a garden sign to hang over the potting bench.
Lucky for me, I found an old shelf in the garage leftover after my little office closet update. Hooray for not throwing things away! It was the perfect size for my needs. So I set to work in Publisher and designed this lovely garden quote sign.
It was unfinished wood on one side (thank you previous owners for not painting both sides of your office shelves… serendipity, no?) so I thought a nice gray stain with some “antiquing” would look cool and natural. I used acrylic paint watered down to wash the gray color. Then I added the quote with a paint pen, and drew on some flowers and vines. The cute font is from dafont.com; it’s called Leaf1. Once it was all dry, I added some distressing to make it look not so new. I sanded off the edges and some of the paint from the letters just to rough it up a bit. <—Really need to get an orbital sander to help with jobs like this! Lastly, I sealed it with three coats of polyurethane to help it stand up to the elements out on the deck. Here’s how it looks hanging over my potting bench:
It gives the area some presence now, instead of just being a random table in the corner. :) Can’t wait till Spring comes again so I can get some use out of this thing!!
I love my new sign and I am planning to make another one for my mother’s nearly-completed greenhouse! There’s still another old shelf to be used, after all! The next one will be cherry stained with white lettering, I think. Simple.
What do you think of my new outdoor art?
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