Dated wall plaques turned lovely pallet sign

I cannot begin to describe to you how elated I am to share my DIY sign project with you. Isn’t it just lovely? I think so. This sign is made out of four thrifted wall hangings and a pallet board. I have had these old wall hangings sitting in my house for a couple months, just starting at me. Lyn (from MidMichigan Mom) sent them to me as part of the Thrift Store Swap, a challenge where myself and nine other bloggers mailed each other thrifted objects with the challenge of transforming them into something awesome. (Lyn is actually the blogger who dreamed up this fun Thrift Store Swap.) All ten of us are revealing our thrifty creations on our blogs today, so be sure to follow the links at the bottom of this post for your next stop on our blog hop.

So, Lyn sent me a perplexing set of objects. I mean, what does one really do with four faded, fruit-themed wall hangings. My initial thought was to make them part of a bigger gallery wall, but I wasn’t sold on the idea. Here’s what they looked like when I got them:

See what I mean? I was just not feeling this project for quite some time. As the deadline for finishing our projects neared, I finally grabbed a can of white spray paint and covered up their ugliness. I had no idea what I would do with them after that, but I figured maybe I’d get inspired after seeing them looking a bit more modern–and less fruit inspired. The spray paint did the trick! Once I had a blank slate to work with, it wasn’t long before I dreamed up the idea for this sign. Here’s what I ended up with:

After painting the wood plaques white, I cut a plank of a pallet to a good height. Honestly, there wasn’t any measuring involved. Just eyeballing and cutting. My sister brought me a truckload of pallets from my parents’ farm when she visited over six months ago. They live a few hours away and I don’t have a truck, so I jumped at the chance to get a load of them. I hate to admit it, but those pallets have been sitting in my garage since Molly delivered them. It was great to finally use up a small piece of one on a project! More pallet projects to come, I promise.

This was my first time using our saw attachment for our drill. It worked so well! After I cut the board, I used our sander drill attachment to sand down the entire board, sanding with the grain. This worked great for quickly smoothing the rough board.

I used this nice grey/brown color of chalk paint to paint the pallet board. I hadn’t used this color before, but I’m loving it! I also put a bit of it on a clean brush and added some streaks to the white boards to give them a subtle textured look.

While the paint was drying, I cut out the vinyl letters using my Silhouette Portrait and then stuck them onto the wood plaques. My final step was to hammer in four evenly spaced nails to hang the wooden plaques from. I hung it up on the wall and, voila, a brand new piece of art that cost next to nothing. What do you think?!

Not only did this turn out to be a pretty piece of artwork, but it (unintentionally) fit perfectly in the empty wall space in our kitchen that I’ve been trying to fill. I haven’t posted a reveal of the new breakfast nook I’ve been working on in our kitchen quite yet, but today I’m giving you a sneak peek of it. You lucky ducks! I just have to show it to you so you can see how well this pallet sign fits with the space. I seriously didn’t even have a plan for where my new creation was going to go until it was complete.

My breakfast nook is not quite complete, but I hope to have it finished up and posted on the blog very soon. Stay tuned!

In the mean time, go check out today’s other blog post of how I transformed this thrifted box, the second item Lyn mailed to me for the Thrift Store Swap.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Your next stop in our Thrift Store Swap blog hop is to visit At Home With Sweet T, where you will get to see what Tracy dreamed up from the thrifty items I mailed to her. Go see what she made!

And then go take a look at what my fellow Thrift Store Swap bloggers concocted with their thrifted finds:

Five Kids, a Dog & a Blog | Mid Michigan Mom  |  Happily Ever After, Etc.

At Home with Sweet T |  DIY Just Cuz

Sequins in the South |   Less House More Home   |   Not Your Average Southern Belle