DIY Anchor Pallet Sign for Our Deck
I will show you how to make this nautical anchor sign out of a pallet with this DIY tutorial!
Welcome back for another day of the “Outdoor Extravaganza”! If you have been following along, then last week you may have seen the easy DIY painted outdoor serving tray that I shared, and the week before I shared our front yard garden.
But I think I have saved the best project for last in this DIY series. I am totally in love with this DIY Anchor Pallet Sign that I created to hang on our deck overlooking the lake! I haven’t made a sign for way-way-way-too-long and I am thrilled with how it turned out…very nautical!
A few months ago, during one of the many afternoons trying to tidy up our disaster-of-a-garage, the hubs decided to make me up a few signs with some extra wooden pallet boards we had hanging around. I had this little guy stashed away in my craft room closet, waiting for some inspiration to hit.
At first I thought I might sand this sign down, and let some of the wood show through so I decided to stain it all over with some of these easy stain cloths that I had in my paint/stain stash.
Next, I got out some leftover paint – a bit of the moody dark navy blue leftover from our boys room makeover as well as some fresh Ocean Air paint sample leftover from when I was testing out colours for our kitchen/living/dining room. It’s always great to use up what you have on hand!
I painted the whole pallet with a coat of the dark navy. Before it dried, I added a bit of the Ocean Air colour to the top of the pallet and brushed it randomly down, creating a cool ombre effect on the finished pallet. I added more of each colour as needed and brushed it in, until I had created the ombre effect that I wanted.
To create my nautical Anchor design, I printed a large anchor that I found by googling Anchor images – onto an 11×17 size paper.
I turned it over and held it against the window in order to better see the outline- and then sketched with my pencil all along the outline of the anchor (keep in mind, this is one the BACK of the printed sheet).
Once finished it will look like this at the back… flip the paper over and you only see the black printed anchor design.
Then I positioned the anchor centered on the pallet (with the penciled back against the pallet), and traced over the edge of the anchor design outline with my pencil. This effectively creates transfer paper and allows you to transfer the image directly onto the wooden sign.
The traced image looks like this…
Next, I just filled the anchor design in with white paint. I used some leftover straight/basic/right out of the can white that I had leftover from our kitchen renovation.
After a few coats of the white on the anchor design, and some drying time, I added some sisal rope to each edge using my hot glue gun. I wanted to make it look like the pallet boards were simply held together by the rope on the sides.
Done!
As I said, this sign is going to be hanging on the exterior wall on our deck – but it will be completely undercover and I will likely bring it in for the winter months. Otherwise I would recommend a couple of coats of a clear exterior sealer to protect your paint finish.
What do you think?
I love the bright graphic touch it adds to our deck. I am working away on finishing touches for the deck and can’t wait to share the newly updated space with you really soon!
And check out the amazing Paint & Build projects that my fellow Outdoor Extravaganza bloggers have come up with today….
And if you are a fellow blogger, then don’t forget that tomorrow we will be back with a link party where you can share any and all of your own Outdoor Projects with us!!
Painted Patio Furniture by Fynes Designs
Gardening Bench by Craftberry Bush
DIY Outdoor Bar Cart by Satori Design for Living
DIY Pallet Anchor Sign by The Happy Housie
Recycled Magazine Rack Turned Outdoor Planter by Echoes of Laughter
Garden Bench Makeover by The Blissful Bee
Come on back tomorrow for some more beautiful outdoor inspiration and to share your own outdoor projects as part of the Outdoor Extravaganza link up!! I can’t wait to see what you have to share:)
How do you keep from seeing the paint lines on the anchor. Made something like this the other day but had to do a few coats of white and there were a lot of brush strokes & uneven paint.
I absolutely love this. I am going to go see your other signs you’ve shared I’m inspired!! My favorite parts of this one are the colors and rope, pinning!
Krista, what a clever and super cute idea!!! In a couple of weeks, I’m switching our porch over from patriotic to nautical so this is perfect!! Thanks for sharing on Link Party Palooza 🙂
Katie
Soooo…Cute!
Perfect outdoor artwork for by the water! Great tutorial
Krista I love your pallet anchor sign – adding the rope was such a great idea! What caught my eye as well was that awesome hot glue caddy! Did you make it or buy it?
I’m always drawn to decor that reminds me of the water. Great idea using pallet wood and supplies you had on hand. Those “free” projects are the best, right?
SO, SO cute Krista!