Bring home a touch of summer vacation with this surfboard-inspired sign

Between work, bills, obligations and errands, the idea of getting away to the beach may seem unattainable. If you are longing for a beach getaway but can’t seem to find the time, try bringing the beach to you. Adding a beach house touch to your home is easy with our tutorial for this beach house sign.

You can customize the colors and lettering to match your home. No matter how you design your sign, it is a fun, easy way to bring the essence of summer vacation to your home. The surfboard shape of an old ironing board, when painted with a classic surfboard design, will have you smelling sun and surf no matter how far away the beach is. Throw on some Beach Boys, and make your home a little more groovy.

Materials
- Old ironing board
- Flathead screwdriver
- Phillips-head screwdriver
- Hammer
- FolkArt Home Decor Chalk Paint, “Provincial Blue”
- 2-inch paintbrush
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Apple Barrel Matte Acrylic Paint, White
- 1-inch paintbrush
- DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic Paint, “Bright Orange”
- Two paintbrushes for lettering

Instructions
1. Place the ironing board face down, and use a power drill or screwdriver to remove any metal hardware.

2. Slide the tip of a flathead screwdriver under any staples holding down fabric or padding, and pry them out. You may want to keep a hammer close by to gently tap the end of the screwdriver for particularly difficult staples.

3. Once all the staples are out, remove any fabric and padding, and flip the ironing board face up. You should now have a clean surface on which to paint.

4. Paint an even layer of FolkArt Home Decor Chalk Paint in “Provincial Blue” on the entire face of the ironing board and allow it to dry.

5. Once the paint is dry, use a ruler and pencil to mark the middle of the board. Using that point, sketch a 1-inch-thick bar horizontally across the board, centered on your original mark. Measure 1-inch above the horizontal bar, and sketch another line parallel horizontally across the board. Measure again 1-inch below the original horizontal bar, and sketch another line, creating three 1-inch-thick bars horizontally across the board in the center.

6. With Apple Barrel Matte Acrylic Paint in “White,” paint the top and bottom 1-inch bars to add a classic surfboard detail to your sign.

7. Allow the paint to dry, then sketch your lettering using a pencil. Try out a couple of different styles on paper first to see which you like the best. (Tip: If you are not comfortable doing the letters freehand, feel free to use letter stencils.) Once you have an outline of your lettering, trace it with a small paintbrush using DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic Paint in “Bright Orange.”

8. With the orange paint still wet, trace again with a new paintbrush using your white paint. Then trace one more time in orange. This will give a faded and outlined look to your lettering. You can also add orange outlining after the lettering is dry for a shadow effect.

9. Hang your sign to add beach house style to your home.