Hand-Painted "Old" Sign

My husband's favorite cousin got married last weekend, and we wanted to give them something really unique because they're such a cool couple.

When we visited their new old house, which is decorated in a beautiful, funky way, we had lots of fun leaving little messages on their vintage typewriter in the foyer. I liked the idea of keeping in the vintage style and typewriter font... so I decided to make them a weathered-looking old sign.

I grabbed a couple old chunks of wood out of the scrap pile at work that had all sorts of screw holes and hammer marks in them... perfect! And free! I arranged them horizontally, then glued and screwed them together with small blocks on the back. No need to be perfect! It's supposed to look old and weathered and hand-made.


The only thing I needed to buy for this project was a little can of stain; I decided to do grey, since I thought it would go well with the decor of their home. I had originally wanted to try one of the white base stains (like these), but they only came in quart size and had to be mixed at the paint counter. Nah... grey turned out lovely!


Now for the message... marriage is a cooperative effort, so I wanted to do something referencing that point while not being too mushy. I wasn't even sure if she was going to take his last name, so I didn't want to do "The Luchsinger's" either. I decided to go with "Luchsinger & Co. est. 2014". I think it makes it look like it could have been found at an abandoned factory or print shop, and the "& Co." can encompass all their friends and relatives that come to visit, as well as their adorable cat George (who made an appearance on their wedding cake topper, by the way!).


I had made a full-size printout at work of the font I wanted to use, so once the stain dried my hubby and I sat on the couch and cut out letters to use as stencils while watching "Once Upon a Time" on Netflix. I set the letters in place on the wood and traced around them lightly with pencil. I then painted each letter with black acrylic paint and a small round brush. Not exactly quick, but it turned out so nice I can't complain. :)



We knew this was the perfect gift for the couple when we walked into the venue and placed it on the favor table- it looked like it was supposed to be there the whole time! We even used it as our card; we left a message and signed the back so they'd always remember the beautiful day that was their wedding.

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