Young House Love

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How To Make A Wood Plaque With A Number Or Letter On It

I like to consider our hallway frame wall a constant “work in progress” since the art in the frames can be swapped out at anytime. But there was at least one element that was less a “work in progress” and more an “um, you’re not going to leave it that way, are you?” Can you spot it?

Seven Paper Before Far

Yep, it’s the placeholder photostrip in the center. We didn’t have a frame to fit that slot at the time, so we figured down the line we’d cut a piece of wood, paint it white and mount the strip on something more officially looking than, well, a piece of office paper held up with painter’s tape (oh the tricks of the trade!).

Seven Paper Before Close

So we bought a piece of craft wood at Lowe’s for a couple of bucks and marked the cut spot using the soon-to-be-trashed paper “frame” as a template.

Seven Marking Wood Cut

Then down to my workshop I went to give it a quick slice with the miter saw. Zzzzzzrripppf! (That’s the sound my saw makes, if you couldn’t tell.)

Seven Cutting Wood

It was about this time that a random idea popped into my head. Staring at this tiny piece of wood gave me a flashback to an episode of Secrets of a Stylist that we watched where Emily had made this cool table by using some floral wall decals (she stuck them on, painted the table white, and removed the decals for a cool stenciled effect). And thus, an idea was born:

wood-plaque-with-number-or-letter

Since I had neither flower decals nor a desire to put florals on my plank of wood, I decided to DIY a more meaningful stencil using a similar method. So tracked down an ornate number seven online (since we started dating on 7/7/05 and our wedding day was 7/7/07 – plus I’ve always thought sevens are kinda cool looking) and stretched it in Photoshop to be the right size (long and skinny). Here it is printed out on cardstock in a basic please-don’t-use-too-much-ink gray.

Seven Wood And Paper

To create my makeshift stencil I broke out the painter’s tape again (see, it’s not only good for holding up temporary paper frames in the hallway) and covered my piece of wood – being sure to stick it down tightly everywhere (I rubbed it all pretty hard with the pads of my fingers).

Seven Tape Over Wood

Then I taped my printed seven loosely on top and began using an exacto knife to cut out the shape of the number. I pressed down pretty hard to be sure that I was slicing through the cardstock and the painter’s tape underneath. It cut into the wood slightly too, but I figured that would only help to keep the border even crisper in the end.

Seven Cutting Stencil

Once done, off came my paper guide…

Seven Removing Stencil

…followed carefully by the painter’s tape (remember, I want the seven to show the wood grain so that’s why I’m removing the tape around it).

Seven Peeling Tape

I took a moment to press down the remaining green tape again, especially around the edges. Just because I didn’t want any paint that I would apply to bleed under and mess with the crispness of the finished numeral.

Seven Tape Peeled

Next came two coats of white paint (I used leftover Olympic semi-gloss that we keep handy for trim touch-ups).

Seven Painting

Before the second coat dried, I slowly peeled up my stencil to reveal the wood below that was spared the white-paint treatment (removing tape when the paint is still wet usually results in a crisper line).

Seven Peeling

Once all of the green tape was taken off and it dried for a few more hours, I added a spare sawtooth hanger (like this) on the back and hung it up on the frame wall.

Seven After Close

We lurv it. As much as we like photostrips, we’re both glad we did this instead (especially since there’s already a frame of photostrips right next to it). Plus, you know we love meaningful slash personal stuff that’s homemade (so a subtle reminder of our anniversary crafted by yours truly is sweet to suckers like us). Oh and when it comes down to cost, everything was free/already on hand except for the piece of wood (which we got for under $2 at Lowe’s).

Sevean After Full

My only wish is that (had I know I was going to do this project from the start) we would have bought a piece of wood with a bit more interesting grain going on. Oh well. There’s always next time (or we can wax or stain or outline it to tweak it someday). For now we like the soft wood tone since it ties into a few other objects on the wall – like a tan map with pins where we’ve gone and a backwards canvas that we hung so the wood frame faces out (both of them are the same blonde wood tone as the seven, although unfortunately not pictured in this post- oops). Have you guys used tape as a stencil to do something like our little wood art project? Or for glass etching (like we did here)? Or for something else entirely? And what about numbers. Do you have a lucky one? In our house we like 43 (the number of digits in “love you”), 14 (Clara’s b-day), and 7 (our anniversary of dating/being married) the most.

Psst- Find more on our big hallway wall of frames here, here and here.

Comments

  1. Alex says

    I don’t know how many times we’ve had a “You’re not going to leave it like that” moment…only to have that moment last for several years :-/ I like the idea and the simplicity of what you’ve done.

    Reply

  2. Dianne says

    We’ve recently adopted the number 4 as our family’s number. Hee hee. It started because my husband’s former wife has concocted a crazy story and has told our teenage children (my stepkids) that their dad is my fourth husband and I’ve had 3 other failed marriages (truth – just one first marriage that I don’t consider an actual failure … it lasted 17 years and yielded many good memories). So, rather than be upset, we’ve made it our inside joke and you can now see 5 or 6 “4”s around our house. It also works well because there are 4 of us (me and my wonderful husband and our two awesome kids). The kids think it’s pretty funny too. But I think I’m obsessed with 4s.

    Reply

  5. Kari says

    I LOVE everything about this! I thought I knew where you were going with your tutorial and then as soon as you cut out the painters tape I was as giddy as a school girl – what a cool idea! I just finished doing a monogrammed wooden sign as a wedding gift. I printed off what I wanted on the sign and then shaded it on the back and traced it onto my wood. I then painted it on there…
    I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, but if you’re interested:
    http://karicorsi.blogspot.com/2011/05/memorial-day-weekend.html
    I REALLY love what you’ve done – I’m going to have to get my grimey hands on some wood and try this out for myself!
    p.s. how is the green painters tape different than the blue? Just the color?

    Reply

  6. Jenn says

    If you’re ever trying to save ink when printing something to use as a template or stencil, you change the text to “outline” …just doing my part to fight the printer ink industry. :)

    Reply

  7. Jenn says

    oops, that should have said “you can change the text…” once i re-read the comment it felt a bit bossy. :)

    Reply

  11. Lorilyn says

    Another good idea for painting stenicls on wood is to cut the stencils out of contact paper and just stick that to the wood, although it wouldn’t be as sticky as your frog tape.

    Reply

  12. Anne says

    Love it!
    You can also use a soda pop tab as a “sawtooth” hanger if you dont have any of those around. Saw the idea on pinterest the other day :)
    I love all your ideas, keep them coming.

    Reply

  15. Caroline says

    Sherry, I have an incredibly random question. Where did you get the silver strappy wedges you have on in your dyed-wedding-dress picture (at the vineyard Virginia wedding)?? Your slipcover post led me to your wedding dress post and I think those shoes are amazeballs (thanks Bethenny) and would be perfect for standing on grass…Thanks!

    Reply

  16. Sarah says

    This is so so cute! I’m going to use this idea for Father’s Day and make my dad a plaque that says “TT” (his initials). Thanks!

    Reply

  19. Kathe C says

    Neat idea, but I think the number would pop more if it was the same color of the tape. The wood color disappears with all that’s going on. Is there a paint color that matches Frog Tape?

    Reply

  20. Kate says

    My favorite number is actually 7 as well. My birthday is 7/7 which I always thought was kind of fun. From the moment I read that you guys got married on 07/07/07 I knew I was going to love this blog!
    I really dig the idea using tape to stencil and my house-project-wheels are already turning to find out how I can copycat it. Thanks for the great idea!

    Reply

  21. Sherry says

    Very cute. I bought some dollar store wood doll house furniture one day and rubbed them down with food-grade mineral oil (from our stone counters). It was amazing what a difference that made – brought out the grain and just darkened a tad.

    Reply

  23. Lizzy says

    3’s and 8’s are “our” numbers. We met online, and met in person on 3/8/08… and our first house together is 3388 River

    This is a cute idea.. hopefully we’ll get a chance to try something similar.

    Reply

  24. twelvedaysold says

    I wanted to thank you guys for always citing previous posts when you mention something in a blog post. I’m a relatively new reader, and love being sent back to the old posts to see how things are done!

    Reply

  26. StefanieK says

    Well, my husband proposed on 8/31/07. And, when we found the venue we wanted to be married in, and inquired about September Saturdays the following year, the vendor said, “We have no Saturday’s left that time of year, but we do have the Sunday before Labor Day open”…well, we really didn’t want a Holiday weekend wedding, but wouldn’t you know that that “Sunday before Labor Day” was 8/31/08. So, we were married on our engagement anniversary, 8/31.

    And “I Love You” = 8 letters, 3 words, 1 lovely meaning. 831. It’s engraved in our wedding bands, and people assume it’s for our anniversary, but it’s really a reminder of our love for each other <3

    Our first baby is due 8/25…will he/she come precisely 6 days late? Time will tell. ;)

    Reply

  27. Shannon says

    My husband and I sign emails and texts 143 and/or 1432 (too, I know wrong 2…)

    Our son was born April 22 at 9:01 PM, weighed 9lb, 1oz and was 22 1/2 inches long…that’s close enough!

    Your blog is delightful!

    Reply

  30. Kimberly says

    I love your wall of frames =)
    &I also love the significance of the number 7 and how you can make it into a piece of art, to show off in your house.

    Reply

  31. Jami says

    Wow I love this idea! We have been talking about doing a gallery wall, more like I’ve been talking about it, and I think instead of one number I may do our anniversary and later maybe one for when Baby G is born! I’ll be pinning this!

    Reply

  33. Rachael says

    i’ve been really into stencil art recently, i have about 3 different art pieces in my “projects” folder on my computer. unfortunately since i’m living in australia short-term, i may not even be able to start these projects until i visit the states again this christmas. but i’ll remain excited until then!
    http://clayrachael.blogspot.com/

    Reply

  34. Dana says

    sherry, do you remember the art-school trick of painting edges of your stencil-sticker with clear acrylic medium to stop paint from bleeding underneath? this has seriously revolutionized the quality of my paintings

    Reply

  35. Barb says

    Something so simple made into something so dang cool!!! You guys have got it “going on!!” Like I said yesterday…everyday, you amaze me!!!

    Nice job John!

    B.

    Reply

  37. Karen says

    I love the new addition to the wall! So cute and clever, and so meaningful! I want to do this on my stairwell when I get a chance. It is a long high wall, very boring. The frames are just what it needs!

    One question, what is the thing on a ring near the light switch? I don’t remember you saying. It looks like a paint swatch ring?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Yup it’s a paint deck that I made with a 3″ binder clip and some hole punched Benjamin Moore paint swatches (I use it all the time!).

      xo,
      s

  39. Malissa says

    I knew that we shared an anniversary date (my husband and I got married on 7/7/07 as well) but we also started dating on July 7th, only in 2003 instead of 2005. I love this idea of using the number 7 in a meaningful way. So cool!

    Reply

  40. Amy C says

    I love the hanging paint swatches! After years of reading this blog, I think it’s safe to say “That’s so John and Sherry!”

    Reply

  42. Angela says

    On a slightly separate topic- I see keys! And not the paper cut out one! Did you buy them or did I miss the making key post?!

    Reply

  43. Meg says

    7 + 7 = 14
    couldn’t resist.
    love the project.
    inspired to try it with scrap wood and try stenciling the kiddos’ names.

    Reply

  44. jessica says

    wow! it looks so good with the grouping. our address is 7707 and its always been a favorite number…i might have to steal this idea…

    Reply

  46. Amanda says

    What frame size is the frame in the bottle cap? I need an IKEA near here, so I can find all sorts of different size frames [for a good price!] so I can make a gallery wall.

    Reply

  47. elle C. says

    I like to use contact paper for a stencil. For our first baby, I wanted to do something special for her room – inexpensive, but personal art. I used contact paper to print out the silhouette of a sparrow in two different sizes, as well as several differently sized circles, then cut them out with an exacto knife. I painted the walls a limey-green, then peeled off the backs of the contact paper, stuck them on the wall in staggered positions and painted bird-silhouettes & circles throughout the room with a peachy-pink paint. It looked even better when I put bird silhouettes within the pink circles so that I was able to get a mix of green & pink birds. Yay for stencils!

    Reply

  49. Taylor says

    Love that!

    Totally random request:

    Would you guys ever consider posting about how you designed the blog and other blogging maintenance type posts?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s kinda boring so we didn’t think anyone was interested (haha). Maybe John can do a post about that for our next blogiversary!

      xo,
      s

    • annabelvita says

      I’m totally interested in this! I’d also be interested to know what sort of things you learnt in advertising that transfers to the blog (like your tag lines and stuff are always sooo good and I’m guessing that comes from being a copywriter).

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Cool beans, it’s settled. We’ll blather on about that stuff on our blogiversary. If any one else has q’s let us know and we’ll do our best to address them!

      xo,
      s

  50. laxsupermom says

    Love this! I love how personal it is, and that it cost next to nothing is just an extra bonus. I hope you don’t mind, but I referenced your reindeer rug you made for Real Simple magazine in my latest post. Let me know if that’s not ok.

    Reply

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