{Pottery Barn Easter Door Sign-knock off}

Ok, next up in the "how can I get the Pottery Barn look on a budget" project list are these: the Easter Door/Yard signs. Aren't they cute? Yes they are, and expensive. I tried my hand at recreating one of these (the green bunny sign) and I think it turned out to be a dead ringer for the actual thing. 

Here's the actual Pottery Barn versions:

And here is my version. Total cost for this bad boy... .50 cents!!! yep, you read right, FIFTY CENTS!

How'd I do it? Well, I went to Home Depot and scoured the remanent section of the lumber dept (my new favorite place!) and found a scrap piece of plywood for .50 cents. The gentleman that worked there was kind enough to cut it down to 12x18 inches for me. 12x18 inches was the dimension specified on the PB website for the door hanger. The yard post was much larger but I opted for the smaller size.

As for the rest, I painted the board with Benjamin Moore's Urban Nature green. The color is part of BM's paint line for Pottery Barn. I already had it on hand, so i'm not including it in the project cost. 

My camera and the lighting outdoors when I took this picture really distorts the color. I'd say its a dead ringer to the green on the actual sign, somehow it didn't translate well in the photograph. Here's the swatch from the website:

See, its really close to the actual sign's color. All the other paints I used were just your run of the mill craft paints I already hand on hand (not included in the cost either). I printed a picture of the sign off the internet, blew it up on my copier, and used it as a stencil to fit the size of my wood, then I just painted away. I'm no painter, but I think I did pretty good! 

When everything was painted and dry, I took some sandpaper and lightly distressed some areas of the sign, like the PB one (again, my camera makes the distressed areas look really harsh, their more subtle in real life). I haven't yet, but I plan to spray the whole thing with a light coat of polyurethane to ensure it stays in good shape for years of use. 

Overall, the project was fun, I love the way it looks on our door, and I think I may just try my hand at the other "egg hunt" sign.

Again, The Pottery Barn version:

My .50 cent version!

Happy Easter!