Simple and Cheap French Rustic Bathroom Sign

I get absolutely giddy once the weather starts warming up- partly because I can feel like me again in my flip flops for the 9 out of 12 months of the year that I can get away with it here.

But also because it means we get to host a new year of cookouts, hangouts, and all kinds of family/friend gatherings.  We love grilling up a storm in the backyard and inviting over lots of the people we love who we're so blessed to live close to.  

And it never fails, when we invite new friends over, there are always people hunting for the restroom in the middle of a party.  I guess because our powder room looks like a closet in our downstairs hallway.  

I joked before that I should just put a bathroom sign on the door so no one has to ask that awkward, "Um...where's your bathroom?"  And let the whole room of people know their business.  Then, I realized it wasn't such a silly idea to make one after all.  

A while back I found this teenagery bedroom sign for $1 at Goodwill and knew I'd make something neat out of it.  I just hadn't decided what until now.  Really though, I could cross out the word "room" and write "house", hang it on my front door and call it a day.  Because our house is actually clean about 2 days of the entire year. #ToddlerParentLife  

The comma splice on the sign would have driven me batty though. #FormerTeacherProbs

Supplies I used:

• Sign or wood piece
• Dark brown acrylic paint
• White acrylic paint
• Dark gray acrylic paint
• 100 grit sandpaper
• Vaseline
• Large and small craft brushes
• Computer printer and paper
• Sharpie or other permanent marker

I gave the entire thing a light sanding first.  To make it look like a weathered painted sign, I put a little brown acrylic paint just around the edges.  

When the brown paint was dry, I rubbed a little Vaseline on the edges to prevent the next paint color from sticking.  This sign took 5 coats of white acrylic paint before I could get those stripes to disappear.  I could have used spray paint but I didn't have any.  I just used supplies I already happened to have in my stash.

I rubbed off the Vaseline after the white paint had dried to reveal the brown underneath and make it look distressed.

For the lettering, I just typed "Toilette" into Picmonkey and saved as a JPEG.  (Okay, so I know I could have typed "toilet", but somehow it seems a little nicer as the French translation "toilette".  Toilet = gross.  Toilette = fancy pants.  Just like pronouncing Target like Tar-jay instantly makes it a luxury boutique.)

I flipped the JPEG image horizontally and printed.

I don't own a vinyl cutting machine or anything, so this is my method for making signs.  And it's cheaper anyway.

I gave the sign one more sanding for good measure and wiped away any dust.

Then I placed my printed lettering face down (hence why it needed to be a mirrored image) and taped it to hold it in place.  I painted a little water on top of the lettering just enough to wet the paper, not to soak it.

I rubbed the lettering to transfer the ink from the paper.  I used a Sharpie pen top but you can use anything as long as it doesn't rip the paper.

The ink transfer from the paper left a light imprint.

From there, I outlined the transfered lettering with a Sharpie.

And filled in the letters with dark gray acrylic paint.

I forgot to photograph this step, but I gave the whole sign one more sanding using 100 grit sandpaper.  I focused on the lettering to distress the dark gray paint.

I didn't want to damage our bathroom door, so I used Command hanging strips to attach it.

This bathroom is in our dark downstairs hallway, so it's challenging to photograph, but it turned out pretty great for only $1 find at Goodwill.

It was the perfect size for our door.

And at least now future guests won't have to feel embarrassed to ask where our restroom is.  Unless they don't know what "toilette" means.  Then, we might have a quick French lesson.  I'm pretty sure they'll figure it out.

Want to see other super frugal thrift store projects?  Just click the images below.  Gotta love crafts that cost almost nothing!

Blessings,

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DIY Rustic Industrial Jewelry Organizer

Yay!  I'm back!!!  I missed y'all, seriously.  It was so much fun handing the blog over to Heather, Erica, Karen, and Erin last week while I took a little break, but it feels good being back in the DIY saddle all refreshed and ready to fill you in on some behind-the-scenes action.

If you were a lucky lady who got some jewelry for Valentine's this weekend (or, hey, bought yourself some bling because self love is just as important), then I'm hoping you'll love my latest bathroom makeover project.  

For years, I've kept all of my jewelry crammed into a jewelry box on my dresser where it all somehow gets tangled and lost, and it's constantly a heaping mess.  I was determined to get it organized and beautiful and for as cheaply as possible ('cause that's always how I roll).

This was my jewelry organizer's humble beginnings: 

Stylish, no?  Ahoy, matey! It could actually be cute in the right room, but nautical seems out of place in my house.

I bought that sailboat picture at Goodwill for $2 because I liked the frame.  And the wood piece was just a scrap leftover from our bathroom window makeover.

After ripping out the picture and removing the glass from the frame, I used my tried and true frame distressing technique.  I didn't have any Vaseline this time around, but since we're in the depths of cold season, a little chest rub did the job. Always look for the bright side, right?

This weathered, chippy finish was the end result.  And I LOVE it!  The silvery finish peeking through the Krylon Dover White spray paint is absolutely perfect.

I still had a roll of chicken wire leftover from our hallway lights, so I measured the frame and cut out a piece with the dimensions I needed.  Let me tell ya, working with chicken wire is tricky business, but y'all, heavy iron skillets are good for more than just cooking cornbread. ;)

This stuff rolls right up without a heavy weight on it.  (My skillet may or may not have had remnants of cornbread still in it from dinner.  Don't judge me.)

I used my manual staple gun to secure the wire around the frame.

I made sure to pull the wire as tight as possible and secured it with a staple every two inches or so.

And my earring holder was done!  

For my necklace/bracelet holder, I used my DIY barnwood staining method on my scrap wood piece to match my bathroom plank wall.

Do you love it as much as I do?  I'm hooked on this stain!  And it's way less messy than the can stuff.

Since everything else in my project was free from using leftovers in my craft stash, I decided to splurge a little with these really cool industrial knobs I found at World Market.  

I measured and marked where I wanted to place the knobs next.

Then drilled the holes.  

(By the way, don't drill into your table like it looks like I'm doing in this shot.  I cheated and posed this one since it's pretty challenging to juggle a drill and a big digital camera at the same time. But you get the idea.)  

Once I screwed in the knobs, that was it!  

The whole project probably took all of 45 minutes and cost me about $17.  I guess it pays to be a craft supply pack rat, right?

So now I don't have any jewelry crammed into a box and forgotten.

And it sort of serves as wall decor on my side of our bathroom counter.

This thing could have been cheaper with some basic 50 cent hooks, but I think those cool knobs were well worth it.

The silvery finish peeking through the white of the frame and the knobs work perfectly with our bathroom mirrors too.

Would you even believe I'd forgotten all about that pretty jade necklace that was shoved into the back of my jewelry box before?  Finding accessories in a hurry is going to be so much easier now than pawing through a tangled mess of it.

If you want to try this one for yourself, you can find old picture frames at your local thrift store for $2-$5 each and a 1x2 pine or oak board and a roll of chicken wire at your local hardware store for around $10-$12.  Or, if you prefer, you can buy it online here: (Click the images below)

I'll be revealing more of our bathroom makeover for the next week, and if you haven't been keeping up already, I've been showing off sneak peeks of it on Instagram.  

If you enjoyed this project, be sure to check out these too: (Click the images to find the posts)

Blessings,

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Thrift End Table to Farmhouse Coffee Table Makeover

I'm so glad to be sharing Karen with y'all today for surprise guest blogger day #3!  I "met" Karen while doing our Holiday Home Tour, and I've been loving her style ever since.  I hope you enjoy her project today!

Hi y'all! I'm Karen from Karen's Up on The Hill and I am just tickled to be guest posting for Lauren on her amazing blog! She is just so darn sweet and creative, and I am so honored that she asked me to be here!

If you haven't been by my place before, we currently have a home that was built in the 50's in the semi-rural western suburbs of Philadelphia, "Horse Country" if you will. We are new to this area and when we moved in and I started to decorate, the house took on a bit of a farmhouse style of it's own.

So, today I'm sharing how I transformed a $30 thrift store end table into a farmhouse style coffee table for our living room.

I had been looking for a coffee table for this room since we moved in last year, with no luck. First of all, have you seen the prices on coffee tables lately? They are a small investment for sure, and I change my mind...a lot. Even if I wanted to spend that kind of money, I couldn't find one with the look, price or size that I wanted. So I decide to make my own.

First, I found this over sized, really heavy end table at a local thrift store. I have been stopping by there for months and I finally got lucky. It was beat up and ugly (ugly like an old library table) but I saw the potential, and it was only $30, so if it didn't work out, c' est la vie, it was no great loss.

I hauled it home, and my husband cut 5 inches off the legs for me to make it the standard coffee table height of 18 inches. Then I gave it a few coats of MMS Milk Paint in Ironstone. I let the paint dry and do what it wanted to do, and then lightly sanded where it had chipped and crackled. To finish it up I applied a coat of clear wax.

I'm really pleased with the way it came out. Our home is super casual and this room is about as fancy as we get, so I just styled it with a few simple touches to keep it light and bright.

Thanks so much for letting me share my living room and my little re-loved $30 coffee table with you today here on Bless'er House.

Have a great week and feel free to stop by anytime and say hello!

Karen