Motivational/Subway Art Plaque for Nursery - DIY

 I have been obsessed with inspirational/motivational quotes & sayings since I can remember. Probably started in middle school, collecting cool things to read and jot in my journal.

So when I've been seeing all the neat subway art signs/plaques lately, it got me all giddy!

Which usually leads to a project...nothing new, right?

I knew this was something I desperately wanted to incorporate into my son's nursery, and make it myself.

After seeing this sign at Pier 1, I was on a mission:

 I loved the idea of inspiring my little one with a sign, but I wanted something horizontal.

Here are some other cool signs:

Source: media-cache5.pinterest.com via yvonne on Pinterest

Source: tarahlowry.blogspot.com via Tia on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Heather on Pinterest

Equipped with what I wanted to say and do, I asked my handsome man to cut some old wooden planks we had in the basement and adhere them together. I didn't want a square, but a decent rectangle. Small enough to look good over the crib. The wood came out to be about 2x3  feet:

BEFORE

He had one long plank and cut it in half, then used metal brackets to screw them together in the back. I wish I had taken more project photos...

It really was okay that the wood was not new! I love the distressed look and really, wood has awesome characters, I didn't want to take away from the roughness...

I spray painted it red, very lightly in some spots, not perfect. It was so fun not to worry about having everything look nice and neat! The style I was going for didn't call for that. Then I wrote out the words by hand and painted them white with a small brush. I am comfortable with my style of handwriting, since I can get letters pretty straight by hand. If you are not, you can always try a projector screen, stencils or vinyl lettering...

Lastly, I took some sand paper and went to town! Okay, maybe not all the way to town...but enough to get get the white letters to not be so, well, uptight and boring haha

AFTER

All done!! Here it is, up and ready to enjoy!

It was so fun to do, easy, quick and I had everything on hand.

My handsome man made sure there were studs in the walls, this thing is pretty heavy. Also we made sure it was high enough so when baby was bigger, he wouldn't mess with it and pull it down (ouch!)

What a special touch for our son to have in his nursery, something handmade and personal!

Can't wait to have a BIG nursery reveal post soon, with tons of photos...muahahaha, stay tuned....