A DIY Sign and Christmas Shelf Decor
*A huge thanks to Behr for providing paint for this post and for sponsoring the giveaway! My favorable opinion of gorgeous, high quality paint is 100% my own. For more information, see my disclosures here.*
Happy Monday, friends! I am so thrilled to be joining with my fellow Behr DIY Experts today to bring you 12 creative paint projects AND an awesome giveaway! There are so many goodies wrapped up in this one post! Yippee!
So have you ever read the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? It’s the story of Alexander and a day where absolutely nothing went right– he got gum in his hair, his mom forgot to pack dessert in his lunch, he had to buy shoes he didn’t like– things got so bad he threatened to move to Australia to escape.
Well the day I attempted the project I’m about to share with you, I knew exactly how Alexander felt. Just about everything that could go wrong, did. It took way longer than I ever expected. I almost scrapped it all and had to come up with something completely new, but (spoiler alert!) in the end it all finally worked out.
My original plan was to take a 20 x 20 canvas, cut the words to O Holy Night out of vinyl with my Silhouette (an electronic cutting machine), slap them on the canvas, paint over them, and when I pulled them away, I would have perfectly crisp, clean letters and you would be able to see the words perfectly. Sounds easy, right?
Wrong. So very, very wrong.
You see, when I oh so carefully made all of my measurements and placed my words in the *exact* places that I wanted them, I realized something. Vinyl doesn’t really stick to canvas very well.
There was no way that if I were to paint over the letters that the paint wouldn’t bleed under them. I tried sealing them with decoupage to keep the paint away. There was still bleeding. It wasn’t going to work. I needed a plan B.
I knew I wanted the background of my canvas to be a beautiful gray, and I just so happened to have the perfect shade. We recently painted our master bathroom with Behr Marquee’s Silver City, and I loved it so much that I decided to use it for this project as well. This is actually the only step of the process that went right— I painted my entire canvas in Silver City, and it covered completely in one coat! Yay!
At this point I joked with my fellow Behr DIY Experts that this was going to be my final project, and that I was going to market it as modern art and it would probably go crazy on Pinterest. 🙂 I pressed on, though.
I headed to the craft store to grab some white vinyl since I was out. They, of course, didn’t have what I wanted, so I bought this huge mega pack of vinyl colors just so I could get the one sheet of white that was included. #bloggerproblems
I got home, cut out all of my wording in vinyl again, and planned to use spray adhesive to help the vinyl stick to the canvas. I whipped out my spray adhesive, went to spray it on, and the valve was clogged. No matter what I tried, it didn’t work.
Sigh…
I was about to attempt to place the vinyl without adhesive, hoping that it would stick to the paint better than the plain canvas, when I remembered another can of spray adhesive I had in my stash… victory! See, there are times when my craft supply hoarding habit comes in handy!
I spent a lot of time measuring, spraying adhesive, placing my words, and forgetting to take pictures because I was so frustrated at this point that I just wanted to get done. 🙂 Finally, finally at about 1 am, I finished up and had…
…my beautiful Christmas sign! Guys, it was totally worth the hassle. I think I’m in love. And because I was so excited that it finally worked out, I ended up putting together the rest of my Christmas shelf decor to really show it off.
I went with a mostly neutral palette this year– gold, silver, black, and white with a tiny bit of green thrown in.
I’m not the only one creating with Behr’s Marquee paint, though! My fellow DIY Experts have come up with some awesome projects as well! Be sure to hop around and check them out!
1. All Things Heart and Home | 2. Clean and Scentsible | 3. The DIY Dreamer | 4. The Frugal Homemaker | 5. Frugal Mom Eh | 6. Just a Girl and Her Blog | 7. Liz Marie Blog | 8. Marty’s Musings | 9. NewlyWoodwards | 10. A Pop of Pretty | 11. Small Home Big Start | 12. Sugar Bee Crafts
*A huge thanks to Behr for providing paint for this post and for sponsoring the giveaway! My favorable opinion of gorgeous, high quality paint is 100% my own. For more information, see my disclosures here.*
It’s so hard to pick, which is why my bathroom remodel still hasn’t happened. I can’t decide whether to pick a bold color since it is a small space or something calming.
Like you, I’m totally in love with all the blue/grays! I would love to have a gallon of paint to get started on our boys’ bathroom this winter.
Love your Christmas sign too! I would love for you to share this project at my Show Me Saturday party. We are live now!
Pinning and sharing everywhere!
~ Ashley
My entire house is tan, except my bathroom. It is time for some updates. My son wants his room blue and I have yet to decide what colors I want our bedroom and my office. Any little bit would be greatly appreciated! Fingers Crossed!
It looks beautiful Abby! Love the gray color you’ve chosen. Btw your photography is stunning in this post!
Would love to get a chance to try Behr. I love the color of the sign!
I have had issues with vinyl sticking to some things – so frustrating. On one project, I threw my idea out the window entirely.
Glad you stuck with this – it’s gorgeous.
SO pretty Abby! And TOTALLY worth the headache!!!
I would choose red, teal and silver!! Thank you for the chance!!
I would love that Silver City color for my guest bathroom! Thank you for the wonderful giveaway.
Erin
I would love to paint my dining room and foyer that same color you used. We painted our living room and kitchen a darker shade of gray a few months ago, but I want it to be a little lighter in there, so that color looks perfect!
Abby I’m so glad you kept at it! The sign and the shelves are absolutely gorgeous. I absolutely love the gray…I’ll add it to my MARQUEE favorite colors 🙂 xo
I would pick Basic Khaki.
It looks great! Good job at completing it! You have more patience that I do. 😉
I’d probably stick with neutral colors for the paint, like greys and creams, and maybe some navy in there, too!
Schooner, dutch white and smokey trout are the colors I’d pick!
i would love to have a soft pastel blue to paint my new crafting room i am working on as i want a beach theme (calming)
I need to start a paint project soon, so this would be perfect for me. I want to paint my daughters room, she is wanting a Frozen theme. We are thinking about doing stripes on one wall and then painting the other walls in a solid color. Thanks for the giveaway and I just love your Christmas vignette and the sign. I would have been exhausted by 1 a.m., too… but, sometimes you just got to finish it or you won’t be able to sleep! 😉
This looks great, I am thinking of doing a Christmas inspired picture this year. Your post made me chuckle, all those little things happen to me every now and again. You think something is going to work, it doesn’t so you go for plan b and realise you no longer have what you need. I guess it’s a typical scenario amongst the creavtives… Lovely pic 🙂
We are in the process of building our home and I would love some kind of neutral greyish blue for our laundry room! BTW beautiful sign.
I would choose Cabin in the woods, Iron Gate, and Eiffel for you.
Everyone made such nice holiday items! I love how you all got together for this giveaway, and sharing a ton of ideas.
Love this sign! I would love gray:)
We are about to repaint the vanity in our bathroom. Looking at a dark gray like Magnet or Iron Gate.
Love the idea and your Christmas shelf looks stunning.
I LOVE all the colors in the Opulence line!!!
wow, looks great, but I woulda probably given up!
I am in the process of redoing my Laundry/Storage/Craft room. I have the basic bone work done but I need to add color and organization that will protect my items from my loving kitty cat that wants to be wherever I am. I am so ready to get in there and get creative!!
Girl, that’s just gorgeous! I did the EXACT same thing but with my Cricut! I thought I could get it to work as a stencil and then I also tried cardstock and that sure didn’t work. Did you know you can use transfer paper on the vinyl? Or did you just need some extra adhesive action? You should have called me. I was up 🙂
So need to paint my living room, and this would be the perfect motivator. 🙂
Abby,
I LOVE this project! You have such a knack for simple yet elegant projects. I’m a little jealous. :0)
All of these amazing projects are making me want to drag my Christmas decoration boxes out, unpack them all–make a huge mess in the process–and get to decorating! *Must wait until after Thanksgiving…Must wait…*
I’m also wondering if I could get away with scrapping my to-do list for the day and spend it crafting?
Thanks for the inspiration!
Tiffany
I’d choose the Sea Life, Cozumel, and Island Oasis. Thanks for the giveaway!
I’m loving the ‘wine not’ and ‘Anjou pear’ colors.
I would pick beige, red and tan!
# 3 PICKS!!! Peony Blush,,,,Tropical Sea & Island Oasis !!!!! TY
I am your daily fan reader. I love Holiday Decor Ideas. Holiday brings smiles and happiness to our home each year. I love to starts making cages and decorate my bathroom