Rustic Door Plaques

Small Rustic Door Plaques

I wanted to do something fun for the doors in the new house. After browsing Hobby Lobby, I found these little plaques for only 79 cents. 

After some light sanding to get them a little smoother, I gave them a coat of leftover basic white paint.

Then, I took the sandpaper and just scuffed up the edges to give them a worn look. 

Here I experimented a little. I wasn't sure what the leftover stain would do to the look but wanted to darken the sanded areas so it looked a little more rustic. With the first piece, I rubbed the stain over most of the piece. Well, that just covered most of the white and wasn't what I had in mind. So, I went over the others just on the sanded edges. 

Now, I really like starting new projects but am not always good at getting them finished. I'm a busy mom of 7, homeschooling and at that time, MOVING. So, my patience level wasn't so high. I thought, "I have good penmanship. I'll just quickly paint on the names." Yeah, well, it turned out that I should have taken my time and maybe written them on with pencil first. It took me a few attempts to decide that I liked it. As you can see, "Girl" was one in the process of being sanded off.  The good news is that it the names came off fairly easily with a little sanding and gave it even more "history". ;) 

My first batch of names also were very faint and though I was using just leftover expresso colored wall paint, I thought it would go on much better. So after putting the names on, I was fairly disappointed with how light they were. I decided to walk away. After all, play time was over and the kids needed my attention more than this project. 

I came back a few hours later, stirred up the leftover latex expresso paint and tried again. Amazingly it worked much better! Yes, I know I could have used a different paint but I'm all for using leftovers and not wasting anything.
But this time, I was satisfied. The only problem I had left was getting them up on the doors. 

Oh, goody! Look what the guys left out after they left for work. :) I love the nailer! I lined them up how I liked them, trying to get them fairly straight and eye level. Then shot them once at the top and once at the base. It went fairly well until I decided to wait till the next day for the last bathroom door. The kids were tired and the compressor is a little loud.

The next day the guys were back at putting in the trim and other things. After they left, I grabbed the gun and shot in the last plaque. I forgot to double check the nail size. They had used longer nails that day and the new nails stuck out the other side of the door. :) OOPS. Well, no biggie. I just snipped off the protruding nails right at their base and since its a wood door with a lot of grain detail, they blend right in and only someone really looking for the two small dots can even see them. YAY!

I'm pleased with them. Overall, they cost me the 79 cents for each plaque and that's it! All other materials were just left overs that would probably have been thrown out. 

My husband after seeing my little project smiled and said, "Thank you.  I would have been lost without them."