Make The Best Of What's Around

Pier 57 Sign

I love painting and finding old stuff and making it new. We were driving downtown Lewiston, ID and noticed an old building being torn down. We stopped and the owners said that we could have any of the torn down boards that we wanted. LOVE IT! I thought about what I wanted to paint on it and had only one thing in mind...PIER 57. It has such special meaning to me and my husband. Pier 57 in Seattle was where we went and had lunch the day after our wedding. We ate at one of our favorite restaurants...The Crab Pot. Pier 57 also reminds me of when I was younger and my family and I would go walk along the Seattle waterfront before going to Mariner Baseball games. Now I'll have a little piece of home with me wherever we live. Here is how I make it.

I took this old board and cleaned up really well with water and let it sit in the sun to dry.

After the board was dry, I painted on one coat of white acrylic paint. There is no need to be neat about this. You want it to look as rustic as possible.

After the white paint is dry, I cut out letters that I drew out and traced them on the board. You can also print out your favorite font from the computer and use them as a stencil.

Next, I painted all of the letters in with Black paint. One coat was enough for the job.

Finally, I waited for the paint to dry and then sanded it down with a fine sandpaper till I got the right look I was going for. Then, I painted on a watered down brown paint over the whole board and wiped it down with a towel. This aged it even more. I was going for the look of a board that was torn off the side of a building. I love this sign. Reminds me of home, our wedding, and Summer time going to Mariner games.