DIY Laundry Room Sign

Valerie Burge
by Valerie Burge
6 Materials
2 Hours
Easy

After doing a few small upgrades in my laundry room recently, there was wall space behind the washer that looked like it needed something to jazz it up. I didn’t want to buy anything, so I came up with a solution using items I found in my garage.

After

I found an 8 x 10” picture frame, with a 14 x 18” frame. I felt it would be too small scale for the wall space, so I came up with a way to give it the illusion of being larger.

Supplies

I found a piece of 8’ trim and cut that in four pieces to create a rectangle shaped frame. I cut two pieces at 27” and two at 21”.

Trim

I mitered the corners at 45 degree angles and glued the frame together, using wood glue.

Frame

I had a piece of fabric that came from a broken roller shade. I loved the pattern so I used this as a backdrop for the picture frame. I cut out a piece that would line up behind my trim.

Fabric

I spray painted the picture frame black. And spray painted the trim white, as it was pretty scuffed up from kicking around my garage. (In hindsight, I REALLY wish I had done that in reverse - black trim / white picture frame.)   


While waiting for the paint to dry I went to my computer and wrote up my laundry sign. I made it so the word ‘laundry’ would be as large as possible, but still be inside the 8” width of my frame. I printed it out on standard 8.5 x 11” cardstock paper.

Letter size print

I taped the printout behind the frame mat. Then I used a black paint pen and extended the curly ends of the word ‘laundry’ over the mat.

Attaching everything to the wall

I lined up my trim where I wanted it on the wall. I used finishing nails on the two top corners and made a pencil line on the inside of the frame, on the wall.

Marking the wall

I removed the trim and the nails and applied mod-podge to the wall using a brush, going just slightly outside the pencil line. Then I placed my fabric on top and used the mod podge squeegee to make sure it was nice and flat. 

Attached fabric to wall

I applied a second coat of mod podge on top of the fabric. Then I sprayed it with Mod Podge matte clear acrylic sealer. Not sure if it needed this, but I had it left over from another project so I figured it wouldn’t hurt.

Sealer

I attached the trim over the fabric, using a brad nailer. 

Trim attached

I was so focused on the nailer (because I had just gotten it and never used one before) that I accidentally attached my trim with the freshly painted side against the wall. LOL Oh well, nothing a little painters tape and an artist brush couldn’t fix. I dapped the nail holes and corners and repainted the frame.

Repainting

I added hanging wire to the frame and hung it in the center, using two little nails. 


And done!

After - v1

Or is it done? 

I couldn’t help but think I should have painted the trim black and the pic frame white, to make it appear larger. I contemplated if I should just leave it, or spend the 20 minutes to switch them.


In the end, I decided Netflix could wait. I took the pic frame apart and spray painted the frame white. Then I taped off and painted the trim black. Well, it's actually more of a charcoal because I didn't have black.


And done!!

After - v2

Even though I made a few boo-boos during this project, I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. I think the scale of the sign works well in the space. And the best part of all, it was free. 😊

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  • Cla2904849 Cla2904849 on Jun 27, 2021

    Love the font you used for your sign! What is it called?

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