Our Hopeful Home: DIY "PRAY BIG" Farmhouse Sign Upcycle

A thrifted old sign, just waiting for a farmhouse makeover, called out to me recently -- and I knew exactly what to do with it. I had been thinking of making a certain sign that I'd seen in varying forms on Pinterest and this one seemed to be the perfect template for the job.

While I love all those signs that say "Market" or "Grocery" or "Farmhouse" that people hang up in their kitchens (and I still may even do one), I wanted to try something a little bit different.

Here's what I started with. The sign itself had nothing wrong with it. It just didn't go with my current decorating style.

Here's the back side, autographed by the couple who gifted it to their friends for their "movie room." I know that we're never going to have a movie room, so that's another reason the sign was perfect for a farmhouse upcycle.

The nice thing about it was that the original picture was made to look like a real painting so it had some depth to it. Therefore, I left the approximately one inch wide "painted" border in tact. Then I painted the entire area within the border in acrylic black paint, covering all the original writing. Sorry, no picture of that. The process was going so fast I forgot to take pictures!

Then I used my handy dandy 4-inch stencils to paint the words in white. But before I painted the letters I painstakingly spaced out the stencils, measuring where I wanted them to go.

Here's a template I created on paper first to ensure that I spaced out the stencils evenly. Whenever I complete a stencil project I spend quite a bit of advance time setting up the stencils. I'm always afraid that if I don't plan it out I'll end up with bad spacing which will ultimately ruin the project. You know what they say: Measure twice, cut once.

And I think I did an okay job of spacing the letters out this time. It wasn't a huge project by any means, but I do think what I did made a huge difference. I love this! Now I've got a custom piece of upcycled art in the farmhouse style that I love! Since I already had the stencils and the paint it essentially cost me all of $2.99 for the original artwork. I think this is one piece that will have a place on my wall for a long time to come. I also think it would look great hanging over a doorway.

I really love these faux miniature evergreen trees left over from my Christmas decor. The burlap is just perfect for the farmhouse look. I think they work well as general winter decor for the longer haul as well. Wouldn't you agree?

I'm also keeping up all my boxwood wreaths, even the ones that are tied up with this lovely red and white striped ribbon. It worked so well as understated Christmas decor. But it also reminds me of French grainsacks (which you all know I love) so I'm happy to leave the ribbons on throughout at least the rest of the winter.

Here's a closer look at that pre-painted border I was telling you about. By leaving it intact I was able to hold onto the illusion of depth which I never could have added myself (as I'm no artist).

I think that by leaving that part alone it added a really nice touch to to the overall effect.

What do you think?

There's another reason I love this. Recently I've been thinking about the Biblical notion that says you have not because you ask not. I could probably write a book about the philosophical implications of that idea but I'm okay with just distilling it down to two words:

PRAY BIG

Works for me.

Well, that's it until next time!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my

DIY "PRAY BIG" Farmhouse Sign Upcycle.

And thanks so much for spending

time with me today!

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