Cute Garden Signs From Old Fan Blades - a Repurpose & Upcycle Project

6 Materials
$15
2 Hours
Easy

If you like to save things and repurpose them like I do then you'll love this project. When we replaced the ceiling fan during our home office makeover it wasn't worth saving. The light no longer worked and the motor was noisy. But the fan blades were in perfect shape.


Of course I saved them, but wasn't sure what to do with them. I didn't want to do anything that had already been done so many times. So I decided to use them to make some cute garden signs. You can see the full post on my blog but I'll give you the basics because there are so many ways you can customize them.

Start by painting your fan blades in a light shade such as white or light gray so that your stencil really stands out. Be sure to use exterior paint so they can stand up to the weather. Let them dry fully.


I didn't bother to fill the holes in the bottom but you can if you wish. Just be sure to paint both sides.


Line up your stencil, I used 6" x 18" stencils like these Bloom & Grow - Greetings - Birdhouse and tape it into place.

Using a light amount of paint on your stippler start filling in the design with the colors of your choice.


Be careful not to load too much paint on your brush or you will experience the dreaded bleed under the stencil. It's better to do a few light coats than one heavy.

Get creative with your colors and then do a little free style around what you just stenciled.


If you have areas that bleed wait for the stencil to dry and then you can "erase" with a small craft brush using the color you painted the fan blade.

Lastly use some heavy epoxy glue to glue your dowel onto the back of the fan blade leaving enough so that you can stake them into your garden.

That's it, they are super fun and easy to make. I made 3 but you can make as few or as many as you the fan blades you can find.


Be sure to check out my blog so you can see what I did to customize the plain stencils to make them my own.


Thanks for checking out my cute project!

Suggested materials:
  • Fan Blades   (Thrift store or your own stash)
  • Stencils   (Craft Store or Online)
  • Craft Paint   (Craft Store or Online)
See all materials
Toni @ Girl, Just DIY!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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4 of 34 comments
  • Angel Chavez Smith Angel Chavez Smith on Jul 17, 2020

    So beautiful!

  • Nancy Nancy on Jul 17, 2020

    It doesn't seem that you used a sealer, I am wondering how they are holding up.


    This is a very cute upcycle project!

    • See 1 previous
    • Val Val on Jul 21, 2020

      I made a dragonfly from some, used several coats of poly on them. Within 5 yrs they fell apart. I dont think any amount of poly is going to help outside unless you choose to redo it every yr. Maybe not have it in direct rain would help.

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