DIY painted & distressed laundry room sign + FREE SVG
Make your own stenciled and distressed laundry room sign. BONUS: grab the FREE to use SVG in my free resource library.
Easy stenciled wood sign for your laundry room
Want to make a simple yet large sign for your laundry room? You’ve come to the right place! I’ve been making this exact LAUNDRY sign in my shop for a couple of years now and really wanted to share with you how I make it because it’s super easy and simple. Not a whole lot of fuss goes into making this larger than mat wooden sign using your Cricut.
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By the way…how cute is my little model?! This is the youngest of my four daughters and she always wants to help me work. She doesn’t care what it is she just wants in on all the fun and exciting things of momma’s business. She was absolutely thrilled when I asked her to hold the sign so I could snap a pic.
Look at that big cheesy smile! Melts my momma heart! Barefoot, girly dress with a unicorn hoodie over it and let’s not forget the wild hair. Oh the life!
If you want to DIY a wood sign but don’t have all the tools be sure to check out my DIY CRAFT KITS.
HOW TO STENCIL A SIGN FOR YOUR LAUNDRY ROOM
Here’s what you’ll need
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wood board, I used pine 1×8 measuring 40”x7.25’“x.75” (those are the exact measurements)
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white paint
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Cricut cutting machine, I use an Explore for all of my projects I haven’t upgraded to the maker yet
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drop cloth (to keep your surface area clean)
If you’re new to the Cricut world be sure to check out my Cricut newbie post.
PAINTED LAUNDRY SIGN TUTORIAL
1.CUT OUT THE STENCIL
I cut my stencil out using Oramask 813 stencil film. This is my go to for most all of the stenciled wood signs I make. If you plan to make a lot of wooden signs you’ll want to read my post on how to save money on stencil film.
Because I did a reverse stencil method, not a traditional stencil method, I added lines onto my stencil to make it super easy to align on my wood base. Then I set my stencils aside till I needed them.
I used and xacto knife to weed the stencils. Be sure to leave the letters and remove the background of the stencil. Since this is a reverse stencil it will look different than a typical stencil does.
2.PAINT THE LETTER COLOR
Typically I would use acrylic paints for this but I was all out of white acrylic paint. Instead I used a white wall paint that is actually better than acrylic to use for this sign.
I painted the sides with one coat of paint and I painted two coats on the front of the sign. Letting it dry completely between coats.
3. APPLY THE STENCIL
I applied transfer tape to one stencil then reused that same transfer tape for the next stencil. Did you know you can reuse transfer tape till it doesn’t work anymore? You sure can!
After I rubbed the stencil with my vinyl squeegee I flipped my stencil over and removed the paper backing.
Then I flipped the stencil over so that the sticky side was down and I placed the stencil where I wanted it on my wood base. This is where the lines on the stencil come in handy. This allows me to center the lettering without any stress. I made my stencil to the exact size of my wood board, with the extra lines, so that when I went to apply the stencil I wouldn’t have to worry about letters being uneven.
Then I pressed it down with my vinyl squeegee to remove any air bubbles then removed the transfer tape. PRO TIP: rolling the transfer tape off of the stencil works best and it won’t lift your design up and off of the wood.
I did the same process for the other part of my stencil. Then I removed the lines on the tops and bottoms because I didn’t need them anymore and didn’t want them to be apart of my design.
3. SEAL THE STENCIL
The key to no paint bleed is to seal the stencil before you paint it. Essentially what you are doing is filling in any tiny air bubbles that paint could get under with the same color as your lettering. So in my case I sealed my stencil with white paint. It just takes a TINY bit of paint, you want to paint into the direction of your stencil. I let this dry completely.
4. PAINT THE SIGN
After the sealing was dry I painted my sign gray. I also paint the back because I think this gives pieces a more finished look but it’s all personal preference. I did two layers of gray paint. I let the first one dry totally before applying the second coat on top of it.
5. PEEL THE STENCIL
While my paint was still wet I peeled the stencil up. Some people choose to do this after their paint is dry and that is totally ok, this is just my personal preference after making thousands of handmade signs over the last few years. Using an xacto knife or a sewing pin works great for this step.
After I got all the stencil pieces removed from the wood base I let it dry.
6. DISTRESSING
This is totally optional. If you don’t want to distress your sign you can choose not to and be done. But if you do want to distress your painted wood sign I recommend using a sander for this step. Mainly because I really don’t like sanding anything with a piece of sandpaper. It’s so much easier to do this with a sander. Focus on the edges and anywhere that would naturally be worn. I also lightly go across the front of my pieces with my sander.
The last thing I do is to wipe it with a lint free cloth to get all the dust off from sanding. Super simple and easy! I told ya, it’s pretty much no fuss.
If you have any questions about this tutorial let me know in the comments below.
Happy Crafting!
CHECK OUT MORE SIGN PAINTING TUTORIALS
