Crazytown

Ya’ll haven’t seen much of the progress we’ve made in our new place, but it’s coming along albeit slowly. I tackled this sad and empty wall above the couch. It bothered me to walk through the door everyday and see and unfinished spot welcoming not welcoming me home.

I knew I wanted a big distressed something or other to go up there and I knew I wanted word. So I immediately thought of one of my favorite quotes of all time, it’s from Steve Jobs and I absolutely love it.

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. "

- Steve Jobs

I bought furring strips, they’re super inexpensive at a buck and some change for an 8 foot long piece. I bought 8, and had them cut to 4 feet in length. So my entire project was under $20 since I just bought the furring strips and stencils, everything else I already owned. I used paint I had on hand, it’s a tannish color that I used in our old house on the living room walls. 

I didn’t worry about covering every millimeter of wood since I planned to distress it after all was said and done. Then I used blue paint that I had on hand for the letters. I did go buy the stencils because after freehanding a few sentences it did. Not. Look. Cute. At. All. So I caved and found a pack of stencils for less than five dollars.

Again, I didn’t worry about crisp lines when stenciling because when everything dried I sanded it all to make it look worn. I hung it on the wall and BAM, perfect fit. There were some hiccups along the way, as in, the original plan was for it to be half the size it ended up being, but when I switched to stencils instead of freehand the words took up more room, thus the larger end result. I also put a coat of stain on it after realizing I was going to need to paint over it anyway to stencil the letters on.

This way when I sanded it after painting, the stain would peek through, it much like the technique I used with Ethan's wooden American flag I made. And I'm glad it ended up larger than initially planned because I actually like that it spans the entire length of the couch.

SO thar she blows mate! My not so empty, and now welcoming living room wall.

Chuckin' up the Deuces until Mañana,

Lorri