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Yesterday I decided to put my new {old} projector to work and make a beach sign using some reclaimed wood from the 1800s. I bought the projector off craigslist and it may be old school, but it works! The wood I used was purchased from a store near Athens, GA that I talk about in this post about my “Love you to the Moon and Back” sign.

The first thing I did for my sign was play around with various fonts before deciding on heartquake, which I downloaded for free from dafont.com. I then added my own arrowheads and arrow to the mix and after I was happy with the way it looked, I printed it out on a sheet of vellum paper. I wasn’t too sure how the vellum paper would work but didn’t have any transparency paper on hand so I figured it was worth a shot.

Want to add some spice to that old piece of wood you have lying around? Check out how to create a DIY Wood Beach Sign! UpcycledTreasures.com

Here is the reclaimed wood that I wanted to use – I LOVE the colors and isn’t that knot awesome?! The edge was actually realllly sharp though so we had to saw it down a bit.

Want to add some spice to that old piece of wood you have lying around? Check out how to create a DIY Wood Beach Sign! UpcycledTreasures.com

DIY Wood Beach Sign

The vellum paper worked surprisingly well and once I set up my wood and had the projector in place, I taped the vellum paper down so it wouldn’t move while I was tracing it onto the board. I will say that it wasn’t super clear, although it did get more clear when I made it smaller. I would think that this is where the transparency paper would make a difference, but it still worked pretty decently. Don’t know if I would recommend using vellum paper for a more detailed project though. I used a watercolor pencil to trace the letters and arrow onto the board.

Want to add some spice to that old piece of wood you have lying around? Check out how to create a DIY Wood Beach Sign! UpcycledTreasures.com

After it was painted I sanded it down a bit to give it that distressed, I’ve been hanging at the beach and washed ashore look. Unfortunately, some of the pretty blue paint that was on the wood came off when I was sanding it, booooo. Next time I will be more careful. I then sealed the wood with polyacrylic and added a piece of blue rope I had leftover from my lampshade project.

And here is my new {old} wood beach sign up on the wall, yay! I LOVE making these signs. Think I’ll make some more and put them in my Etsy shop this weekend.

Want to add some spice to that old piece of wood you have lying around? Check out how to create a DIY Wood Beach Sign! UpcycledTreasures.com

Want to add some spice to that old piece of wood you have lying around? Check out how to create a DIY Wood Beach Sign! UpcycledTreasures.com

It’s funny but in this photo, you can actually see my DIY wood shim artwork on the left and rope mirror and lampshade on the right. Want to add some spice to that old piece of wood you have lying around? Check out how to create a DIY Wood Beach Sign! UpcycledTreasures.com

UPDATE: I have since moved the beach sign to be above my new beach inspired console table. Here is an updated photo:

Want to add some spice to that old piece of wood you have lying around? Check out how to create a DIY Wood Beach Sign! UpcycledTreasures.com

So what do you think of the DIY wood beach sign? Now that my third ship helm is being used as a nautical wreath, I had to do some re-arranging with the other helms and think this is a good spot for them.. for now anyway.

34 Comments

    1. Thank you Holly and I enjoyed putting it together. I ended up printing out the anchors photo and adding a border to match the colors of the beach sign to try to tie it in a little better. 🙂

  6. Love this idea! This came out great! I could totally see this in my beach house on Cape Cod (now I just have to buy the beach house) :o) I’m pinning this to my crafts board now; thanks for sharing!

    – [email protected]

    1. You and me both! I’ve never actually been to Cape Cod but grew up reading Marry Higgins Clark books and a lot of them take place there, so I’ve always wanted to check it out. Thanks for stopping by!
      ~Katie

  9. This is so cute! Love the piece of wood that you used. Thanks so much for sharing at The Inspiration Exchange. I’ll be featuring this tomorrow. Have a wonderful weekend!
    Jenn 🙂

    1. Hi Jenn! Thanks for hosting the link up party and I’m so excited you will be featuring my sign tomorrow, yay! Hope you are having a fantastical weekend!
      ~Katie

  10. Hi Katie – I just found you over at Funky Junk Interiors. I adore your beach sign! Looking forward to browsing through your blog to see what else you’ve been up to. Thanks for sharing and blessings to you, Patti@OldThingsNew

  11. I love that sign sooo much! It’s gorgeous! The whole wall is great! I’d like you to transplant that wall to my house (ya know, if you don’t mind!)

    1. Thank you holly! I really need to compare the vellum paper to transparency paper and see what a difference it makes. I look forward to using the projector for future projects as well 🙂
      ~Katie

  13. Love the rustic feel of your sign! And what a great wall vignette!

    1. Hi Tanya! For some silly reason this went to my spam folder, but thank you so much for featuring my sign and I LOVE all the summer features you chose 🙂
      ~Katie

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