Country Sign Tutorial

Country Sign Tutorial

-10 foot 4 x 4. (I used a rough cut timber we salvaged)

-various scrap pieces of wood (different lengths and thickness)

-rail road spikes
-pair of saw horses (keeps post off the ground while drilling holes)

-permanent Sharpie Markers or Paint
-exterior matte varnish spray

-wire or barb wire

-eyelets (from dollar store for hanging pictures)

-computer printed quotes (I printed mine using print shop in banner format)

-transfer paper

-(I topped mine with an old lantern I recycled by placing a lighted bulb inside)

Instructions:

-Drill several holes on each side of the top 4 feet of the long length of wood. I used wooden saw horses to keep the post off the ground. These should angle downwards. These will be your pilot holes for pounding in the railroad spikes. Use a hammer to pound in the spikes. These will be the hangers for your wooden signs. Alternatively, vintage hooks, a collection of old door knobs, or other oddities would look nice. 

-on various lengths and cuts of wood stencil or use transfer paper to copy on various play ground quotes. Use either sharpie marker or paint to fill in transfers.  I used various sayings: "try new things", "play", "explore", "discover", "create", "share", "imagine", "dream", "find a treasure", "build a fort", "explore". Alternatively, I have also seen similar designs using signs pointing to different childrens' tv movie location destinations. see creative inspirations for this idea. 


-I sprayed my boards with matte exterior varnish to protect my signs from weathering. Once complete insert eyelet screws at varying width on the top edge of the board. Use regular wire or barb wire in varying length to fit through eyelets so boards can be hung onto the railroad spikes. 

-Stand post upright into ground. Sink enough of the post that it is sturdy (mine is approx. 3.5 feet in the ground). Once upright alternate your signs so your desired look is achieved. 

-I reuse vintage lanterns throughout the yard. I rig them with a single bulb on a lighted brown cord from amazon and plug them into an electrical source. I also landscaped around the post using rocks and a half wine barrel as a planter. This is located by our kids' play structure. Enjoy!

A Vintage Country Yard

   A vintage country yard 

My vintage country yard is a collection of odds and ends. 

Discarded old materials, old fences, piles of rocks, old machinery, tires, and other miscellaneous things. Somehow these things have found their way into my yard décor. They are the backdrops for many a photo or a focal point for a garden or planter.  I like to salvage old material. 

I like Rust. If it is falling apart, breaking down, missing pieces, junky, paint peeling, dented in, cast off...but rusty it will fit right into this yard. It will belong here.

           The country home I love came with a wagon.

 I obtained some wagon wheels and other old things that seemed to appeal to me from the neighbors. 

The collecting of things for our yard then became a hobby. I came home with old lanterns and truck loads of rocks.  Rusty buckets, metal wheels, old whiskey jugs, and a few unknown items that I just had to have. I have what I once heard referred to as

      "a junk style"..and i am okay with that!

I then started planting flowers and shrubs into just about anything I could get my hands on.  I liked the look of flowers cascading out the side of a tea pot. I planted up pots and pans. I liked the look of grasses growing out of the top of buckets. If it could hold dirt I could just about get anything to grow in it.                                                                                  

Then a few old milk canisters came home with me. A couple whiskey barrels, some old fence posts, barbed wire, a few old ladders, a metal sculpted frame from a bed, and a cast iron bell.

Next came a collection of old pumps in a variety of shapes and sizes. These are scattered throughout the yard. 

My greatest yard love is my Church Steeple. I found it at a local auction and it had originally belonged to one of the rural churches. When the sanctuary was taken down a  local farmers managed to remove the steeple and it sat untouched on his homestead for many years. When the farm went to sale and it became available and I knew I just had to have it. Some people build a gazebo and I came home with this. 

See Country sign tutorial

I like to think of Gardening and Yard Decorating as a Craft. I like to change things up throughout the seasons and Rust and Christmas lights are a beautiful sight. 

I hope you have enjoyed my vintage country yard and gardens.  I love the country lifestyle and it feels like home to me. I like to spend a Day in the Country.