A Quick Father’s Day Gift

Father’s Day is coming… Did you know that? It’s next weekend (eeek)! I am NEVER prepared and this year not only do I have the gift ready, it wasn’t even expensive. I spent $7.37 and he loves it (I had to give it to him early or I wouldn’t be able to tell you about it).

I have a fabulous stencil I bought from Muddaritaville Studio ages ago. I love it and knew it was perfect for our “new” oasis. I wasn’t really feeling like I had the time to pull apart the pallets I needed so at Home Depot I came across these:

In a package of 12 there were more than what I needed. I cut them to 12″ with my fabulous Ryobi miter saw and lined them up on top of two random pieces of wood I had lying around:

I added glue to the back pieces and then used my fab Ryobi brad nailer to attach all the stakes on top. When I was done, it looked like this:

I stained it with a custom mix of Hazelnut and Black Shabby Paints ReVAX

and once dry, lined up the stencil.

I knew my husband wouldn’t care for the “froofy” stuff on the top, so I just pretended it wasn’t there and worked around it.

I considered just leaving it like this:

or even this:

because really.. that’s the point of the porch. The rest of it was cute though, and I went to all the trouble to make a sign that fit it all, so I filled it in.

Oh, stenciling tip- tape it to your surface on one side, like a hinge, you can check the appearance frequently if needed and it lays right back down in the same place and the design doesn’t go wonky on you.

I did 2 coats of the white so it was easy to read. then once good and dry, I went over it with 400 grit sandpaper to make it look a little aged.

And here it is in place:

He totally loves it and even posted about it on Instagram immediately. I’m just excited I have it done in time to share with you AND give it to him for Father’s Day. It’s perfect on the porch and now I obviously need more art or signs to fill up that space…any ideas?

XO!

(Ryobi has been incredible and given me amazing tools to share with you- I am so grateful. All opinions are my own and always be.)