DIY Rustic Sign

Have you ever had one of those things that you get your mind on and you just can't let go of?  You know the thing that drives you crazy and it's all you can think about?  Well I had one of those experiences a few weeks ago.  One of our Instagram friends posted this picture and said she had found these awesome rustic signs at her local HomeGoods.  

I loved them and knew it was exactly what I had been searching for.  I've had this blank space that was bugging me in my kitchen (see Tuesday's post about my dislike of blank walls) and had really been wanting an antiqued looking sign that said eat, grocery, market, kitchen or something along those lines.  It's no secret that I love the farmhouse/rustic style (Fixer Upper is one of my favorite shows!) so the tin letters on these wooden pallets had a hold on me from first sight.

Since I couldn't get those signs out of my head I did what any crazy obsessive person would do...head to every HomeGoods around searching for them.  I was determined to find them, but kept coming up empty handed. I searched online, looked for something similar on Etsy, and even had my mom check her HomeGoods in North Carolina.  Still no luck.

Then, I found these tin letters at none other than Hobby Lobby when I was looking for frames for my maps and the idea started brewing to build my own sign.  And let's be honest, by build my own sign I most definitely mean have my handy husband build me a sign.

And build it he did!  

I am in love with the outcome. It has the look and feel I wanted and it fits and fills the space perfectly.  I had waited for the letters to go on sale (at 50% off they were only $15 each) before I handed everything over.  He built it when I wasn't at home, so I wasn't able to take pictures along with way.  However, it seemed like a pretty simple project.  He took two boards we had salvaged from built-ins from the original house before demo began and he cut them to size.  He attached the boards on the back to form the sign and then measured and hung the letters (which were easily removable...they just sort of hung like a picture would on a wall would.) When I got home and saw how awesome it looked  I wanted it hung right away!!! He literally just screwed the whole thing on the wall...that sucker isn't going anywhere.  

I really like that it has dimension to it and I am so happy he used the boards from the original house because that is just really neat to me!

With this project complete I am just about done with the short list of house projects I had been hoping to accomplish.  Of course, there are always other things I want to do, but these were my top priority, so I'm a happy camper now. :-)

And don't forget that we are teamed up with Savvy Sassy Moms and some other wonderful ladies for the Joovy Tandem Stroller giveaway (a $400 value!)!

The contest ends tonight at 9 PM EST, so be sure to follow us on Instagram (@themagnoliamamas) to find all of the details of the giveaway and for your chance to win.  The winner will be announced on Friday via Instagram!

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Framed Maps

Those of you that have been reading this blog from the beginning might remember one of my first posts and home tour of my Living Room.  I have been wanting to fill the blank walls behind our sectional couch since we moved in, but I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to put there.  I felt like I needed something that would be cohesive on both walls, but didn't want to just buy a bunch of random pieces of wall art.  My friend, K, has impeccable design taste and her house looks like a model home...it is so beautiful.  One day when she and her kids were over for a playdate I asked her opinion of what I could do with those blank walls and she suggested few things, one of which was to frame different maps that might have special meaning to us.  I LOVED that idea and immediately knew that is what I wanted to do.

A few weeks later I was talking with my friend, L, and she had done something really similar so I asked her where she got her maps, how she framed them, and all of the specifics of this project.  She and her husband told me about the U.S. Geological Survey website, USGS, where there are maps of all areas of the  United States for between $8-20 each, which was way cheaper than any I had found anywhere else online.

That is where my excitement and my project stalled for about 3 months.  The website is kind of hard to navigate and every time I would take a look I would get frustrated and just put it off to another day. I finally got sick of re-writing "order maps" on my to-do lists so one night I stayed up late and just got it done.  If you decide to order from this site, you can search just about anywhere and it will pull up all of the maps that are available for that area. I went with the 7.5 x 7.5 grid sized maps because that is what my friends had used.

I ordered 6 different maps of places that have special meaning to us...where we got married, the location of the homes we have lived in, the lake we love to go to, etc.  It was fun looking at each map as it arrived and the kids were fascinated to see where we used to live and even where we currently live on a map.

My original plan was to have the Mr. build some frames to look like reclaimed wood (a project I found on Pinterest) and he had agreed to it, but then I found these beauties at Hobby Lobby and knew it was the same look I was going for.

Tell me I'm not the only one that takes pictures of stuff as I'm shopping so I can remember what it looks like and what store it's from!?!?

I waited a week for them to go on sale 50% off and then made the rounds to 3 different Hobby Lobby's to get the 6 I needed.  I was so pumped I posted them on Instagram!

At one of the stores, I got to talking to the manager and he told me the story behind these frames.  Apparently there is a gentleman that builds them for Hobby Lobby using reclaimed barn wood and fence posts from TX.  They are all a little bit different and definitely weathered, which I love.

Mr. and I hung them all on Friday night and we were both so happy with the outcome.  I am thrilled with the way they look and fill the space I so desperately wanted to fill.  And, I especially love that they tell our story and are each meaningful to us.

I have a few other maps I ordered from the same site of some states, but they are all random and different sizes.  I am going to have to either have them custom framed or talk the Mr. into building frames for those.  That is a project for another time!

While I was on my mission to fill the walls I also found these distressed iron shutters at Hobby Lobby about a month ago.  (Are you beginning to notice a trend here?!?! Hobby Lobby is my go-to place!) We hung them over the chairs in our living room and I finally feel like that room is complete now. :-)

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