Hello Sign
6 Materials
$5
30 Minutes
Easy
Hello y‘all! Any of you remember when our main communication was land lines with party lines, where as many as six neighbors shared a phone line? I do! Oops,telling my age. I remember as a young girl, when mom and dad had a party line and you could hear the neighbors pick-up and listen to conversations. Dad would say, Mrs. so & so, if you will please hang up, I will finish my call as quickly as possible. I will have to admit we had several shall we say, curious ladies in our small community. LOL 😂 So as soon as private lines were available, mom and dad paid the price and enjoyed a private phone line. Those were good old days! I would not trade those times and memories for anything. Well, I say all of that to explain why I stenciled the word “hello” on an old wooden slat from the back of a rocker. I kinda/sorta collect old phones. I really like them and the fond memories of using the old rotary phones as a child. Several.Years ago, my brother-in-law bought me an old phone (that still works) at a yard sale for 50 cents. The phone has been connected and hanging on a wall in the dining room ever since he gave it to me. I also bought at yard sale, an old phone book from my husband’s small community. I hung the phone book above above the phon, just like remember as a child In our. Kitchen. Recently, I found a large metal cut out of a phone. I hung it over the real old phone, but something else was needed ...but what?
I sometimes think, I am crazy for keeping items that others would through away...so does my sweet hubby. I decided I needed a thin piece of wood turned vertically to add to my phone grouping. Luckily, I had saved some slats from the back of an old,, rotten rocker. Yea me! Perfect, for my project!
I lightly sprayed the wood with white spray paint.
Just a very thin coat was needed. I wanted an old, worn look.
I allowed about 15 minutes for the paint to dry.
Using a metal sign, with the word “hello”, as a stencil, I outlined the letters with a pencil.
Next, I traced over the letters with a paint marker/pen.
All of the letters are traced.
After the tracing of the letters, I used the same red paint marker/pen and painted the inside of each letter.
After the red paint marker/pen dried, I outlined the words using a black paint marker/ pen to make the letters stand out more from the white background. I kinda wished I had tried to see what the red would have looked like on just the wood without the paint. Oh, well, next time.
All of the letters are outlined with the black paint marker/pen.
I wanted to add a little something to the bottom, so I Googled phone and learned the first phone was invented in 1827. So I used the black paint marker/pen and wrote the year on the bottom under the word “hello”. I also learned info about who first used the word “hello” to answer the phone. You can Google that too. I am just glad we didn’t go with “ahoy”. If you Google who first used the word hello, you will understand what I am saying.
The lettering was a little too bright, so I used sandpaper to give it a faded look, since I was going for an old worn look. Last, I used Command strips to hang the wood sign on the wall. I am so glad I saved the old rocker slat, it was just what I needed for that spot.
By the way, if our power goes out, our cordless, landline 📞 phones do not work, but the old rotary does. The ringer is so loud, I have to keep it turned off. My grandchildren think the old phone is so neat and so do I...it is a sweet part of history.
”Hello” & Goodbye Y’all! ☎️
Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 38 comments
-
This is so cute. I also have an old black rotary phone that still works. It was our families first phone when I was a child. I think I will make a sign to go with mine. I don't have a rocker slat but I have old fence slats. I save everything too. LOL
-
Wow! That is awesome that you still have your families’ phone. A fence slat will be perfect. Have fun!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Where do I get stencils with that big of letters?