Leftover Beadboard Sign

 I saw this quote by Mary Oliver last week on Facebook and fell in love with it. I thought it would make a great porch sign:

Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable. 

From the two sheets of bead board I purchased for my bathroom ceiling I had enough left over to add a detail to the kitchen island and make today's project. I like to use ALL the materials that get brought home. Bead board is perfect for sign making because you have all those lovely straight lines to work with.

I started by using stick on letters I had leftover from another project. I'd used some of the ones I needed and in those cases I peeled off the outline and used it as a stencil, tracing inside instead of outside the letters.

Here's an example:

Once I had traced all around the letters in pencil I removed the stickers and went over the pencil with a Sharpie.

The reason for using the permanent marker was because I wanted it to bleed through the coat of paint I was applying before filling in the letters.

I wanted a bluish gray and it took me a couple of tries to get the look I wanted.

See how clearly the letters are visible through the paint?

My first idea was to paint the letters in but the coverage was terrible and it was going to take forever. I used this champ, the Sharpie Magnum. It worked beautifully for this project since I was putting paint on top. If however, you want the letters to look and aged and intend to sand them do not use a Sharpie! If you want to age the letters by sanding off paint paint you should use a chalk paint or other non glossy medium.

I really liked the lines from the bead board through the letters.

I could have left it like this but the blue was a bit much for me and it was very bold. If you like that look you could stop here. Because the quote had the word unimaginable in it I wanted something dreamy and ethereal so I added a layer of cream chalk paint.  

 I painted lightly over the letters with almost a dry brush. I went a bit heavier on the areas without wording. I sanded a couple of edges...

Next it was time for the aging wax to take a bit of the starkness out of the piece. I just make my own by adding stain to furniture wax.

Buffing is required.

A bit more sanding just where the words are and it's finished!