Making Your Own Distressed Wooden Plaque

Many people enjoy the look of distressed wood in furniture and in room decor. It is a fairly easy look to achieve with the proper materials. When you distress a piece of wood, you have a rustic, antique finish when it is completed. Here are some instructions you can use to make your own distressed wooden plaque to hang in your home.

Materials You Will Need

• Wood board in size you would like your plaque
• Sandpaper
• Medium-sized paintbrush and lettering paintbrush
• Chalk paint in three different colors
• Petroleum jelly
• Word processing program on a computer
• Printer paper
• Printer
• Painter's tape
• Pen
• Furniture Wax
• Hardware to hang your sign

Preparing The Wood

You will first want to prepare your wood slab. Sand the edges so they do not have any jagged areas or spots where someone could get splinters from handling. You will want to paint the entire surface of your sign with one color of your chalk paint. This will be the color that shows through as distressed pieces, as it will be covered with another coating of paint in a different color. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly.

Smear some petroleum jelly on any area of the sign that you want to see the first color show. Focus on the edges of the plaque rather than making a bunch of large areas in the main section. Paint over the first coating and the petroleum jelly with your second color of paint. Allow the paint to dry.

Preparing The Lettering

In your word processor, you will need to find a font and size for your lettering and print out the word you want to place on your board. Make the lettering large enough to be able to fit on your wood board. You may need to print out a few samples and place the printed word on top of your board to see how it looks. You also may need to print the lettering on more than one piece of paper to have it large enough.

Use painter's tape to adhere the paper right to the top of your wood board. Using a pen, trace the letters and put pressure on the paper as you do so so that an indent will show up on your board when you take the paper off. You will be able to use these indents as a guide to paint the lettering with another color of paint.

Distressing Your Plaque

After you have painted in your lettering and it has dried, you will be able to start the distressing process. Use your sandpaper to scuff up the surface of your sign, again, paying extra attention to the edges. The top coating will scrape off pretty easily wherever you had placed the petroleum jelly, leaving you with a plaque that looks aged and weathered. When you have completed the distressing, add a coating of furniture polish to help seal and protect the paint remaining on your plaque.

If you need a professional plaque for your home or business, consider hiring a company like All Signs to take care of the work for you.