Make this cute farmhouse laundry room sign that says, “Wash, Dry, Fold, Repeat.” by yourself for just a few dollars!
So, I would say, for the most part, we’re pretty happy with our house. It could do with a few more closets but we could also do with substantially less stuff so I can’t say for certain that it’s the house’s fault!
But the one part of it that I do not love, is the laundry room. Well, scratch that, it’s more of a laundry hallway. Down at the back of the basement, down the twisty 100 year old basement stairs, across from the furnace area and tucked into a little nook on the way to the back door. With an inconveniently placed laundry sink nextdoor to the dryer.
I’ve been brainstorming lots of ways to make that area work better for us. Most of them involve trying to move that sink which is probably not practical.
But in the meantime, I think I’m going to focus on just keeping it clean and tidy. And adding some little things like this cute Farmhouse Laundry Room Sign.
I whipped this up in just a few minutes with a stencil and if you are into Fixer Upper, shiplap and farmhouse style, this is the project for you. Read on for full instructions and a warning on how NOT to do this project if you’re lazy and don’t have quite the right supplies…
DIY Farmhouse Laundry Room Sign
3/8″ x 4″ x 36″ craft wood strip
1/2″ x 1/8″ x 24″ craft wood strip
Craft cutting machine like silhouette or cricut
Transfer tape or contact paper
Chalky paint in smoke and charcoal
1 . First cut your 4″ wide strip of craft wood into 3 12″ lengths. Craft wood (balsa or basswood) should be soft enough that you can do this with a straight edge and an exacto knife.
2 . Lay them out nicest side down with a small 1/8″ gap between each strip. Then hot glue two 11″ pieces of the other size strip to the back to keep them aligned, like this:
3 . Flip your sign back over and give the whole thing a coat of the light gray chalky paint color. Use an fairly dry brush so the coverage is a little bit uneven and distressed.
4 . Then got back with an even drier and smaller brush just barely dipped in the charcoal chalky paint and distressed around the edges and between the boards.
5 . Lay out your design in your cutting machine software. I just typed out the words, “Wash, Dry, Fold, Repeat.” and then drew a simple line around the whole thing. Make sure everything is sized to fit your sign. My farmhouse font is one called Adobe Naskh. Then load a 12″ square piece of vinyl into your machine and cut your design using the recommended presets for cutting vinyl (I always set my speed to 1 and overcut just a tiny bit for cleaner cuts). Then peel away all of the negative space from your design.
Note: This is where I had a terrible terrible idea. I didn’t have a big enough piece of vinyl for this project but I did have plenty of clear contact paper which I use for transferring vinyl designs like you would use transfer tape (it’s just cheaper). I cut my design out of contact paper and while the finished product was fine, it was a huge pain to work with. It just wasn’t quite sticky enough, except to itself, so it kept peeling off and moving around. I managed to make it work but I wouldn’t recommend it. So the photos of the next steps in the middle here are going to be from another project where I did use vinyl to stencil.
6. Lay a piece of clear contact paper or transfer tape over your design, rub all over and carefully life the design up off the vinyl backing. Then lay it down onto your wood sign. Rub all over again and begin to carefully peel away the contact paper, leaving the vinyl stuck to the sign.
7. Using a fairly dry brush and a dabbing motion, paint inside your stencil with the charcoal chalky paint, being careful not to push paint up under the edges.
8 . Peel the stencil off revealing your cute sign design underneath!
9. Finally, attach a sawtooth picture hanger to the back of your sign. My wood was so lightweight that I just hot glued mine! Hang and enjoy!
If you liked this, you may also like some of my other posts…
- Learn to Knit – p3tog (Purl 3 Together) - September 12, 2024
- Alternating Rib Hat Knitting Pattern - September 10, 2024
- Learn to Knit – How To Use a Pom Pom Maker - August 29, 2024
Dalwi Szyje says
Great farmhouse.