Large ‘HOME’ Letters

I know, ANOTHER basement post! Sorry, for those of you who are sick and tired of it. My apologies. I do have a couple non-related basement posts to write that I promise to fit in soon;) So stick with me!

Today, I’m sharing the giant HOME letters I kinda sorta DIY-ed on the plank wall. I knew I wanted to spell out this word in some gloriously-vintage-metal-rusty-perhaps-light-up letters – they’d be just the thing to fill this space…but when I did some googling, those vintagey-glorious-rusty-metal letters are pretty darn expensive, especially considering I’d be buying FOUR! I wasn’t about to drop at least $100 PER LETTER. And those were the cheapest ones. That wasn’t gonna happen.

So I had to get creative. I swear, it’s these situations that make the best stuff, right? When you’ve got to figure out another way in order to make it fit the budget? You end up with a one-of-a-kind project, plus, the satisfaction I get when I know I only spent about $55 bucks TOTAL? Well, that just rocks. Like I beat the system! (insert evil laugh here) Doesn’t take much. Really.

ANYwhoooo…

I wanted each letter to look unique. So I figured, I’d get one of those metal letters from Hobby Lobby and go from there. This is my third metal letter in our house. (W in our dining room, N in my son’s room, now an M for the basement). I may have a problem. And 50% off? Yes, please!

Now, how about the other three letters in the word HOME??

I found an unfinished O at Hobby Lobby as well. That would get painted a pretty color. Hmmm…ok, now a wood one would be great…but I couldn’t find any big enough. BUT I DID find this awesome driftwood bundle at Hobby Lobby that I would be able to make an H or an E pretty easily with.

I got home and couldn’t wait to try this out. I also picked up a smaller pile in case I needed some that size. The big one was $8.99 and the small was $4.99. But with those 40% off coupons…I know, right?! Awesomesauce.

I ended up going with the H because it was just TOO easy not to. If you love driftwood and your name begins with an H, this is a super easy project for ya!

I took two of the pieces and just used some wood glue along the sides first. That is all you need for this letter!!

I did this again, and had both long sides of the H done. I did not disturb them until they were good and dry, then took one of the smaller pieces and used that for the piece that goes across. I looked in the kitchen for two heavy things to sit on it while it dried and FYI – a box of wine and a heavy flour jar will do the trick!

And seriously, THAT IS IT. How cool is that?! I added those teeth hanging things to the back of each side once it was done – and the middle piece popped off from the power of the hammer. No worries, I just added more glue (you could use crazy glue if you want), and it’s back on and not going anywhere.

So here’s what I had at this point:

What to do for the E?!

I started envisioning a lowercase e…I did some googling and found a website called build-a-cross.com. They sell unfinished letters (among other things), so I’d have to jazz it up, but this was the perfect finishing touch! I really liked how I could get a lowercase letter, to make it a little more interesting. When it came in, I painted it black, then sprayed it with a quick coat of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint, to give it a little metallic sheen (but it’s so slight I didn’t even really have to do this step;).

I grabbed some samples of blue paint that I had laying around, and slapped some on the unfinished O until I was happy with it. I mixed in some streaks of white and rubbed it with a paper towel so it would look a little beat up, and sanded it a little until it was just right…

All that was left now was just hang it all up on the wall!

I love the mix of wood, paint, metal…it makes my eclectic-rustic heart so happy. And know what else makes me happy?

The price tag! 😉