Jason and I took the plunge and bought a condo at the lake a little over a year ago. Even though most of the properties that are sold at the lake come turn key, I still wanted to make our new place “mine”.
Here are some DIY projects that gave our lake house an extra dose of loveliness – Susie Pea style. They were so simple and inexpensive, and didn’t take much time at all.
DIY Lakehouse Sign
I made this handsome sign to hang over the front door at the condo. It is a great way to direct our friends and family to the right place when they come to visit. I love the black and white colors. It sets the stage for the décor of the entire condo.
Now you remember how frugal I am… Home Depot has an area that they house discount wood boards that are warped or damaged for 70% off. What a deal! I dug through the pile and found the perfect width for my sign. I had an associate cut the appropriate length for me. They will do this for free for any project as long as it is a straight cut.
With some leftover paint that I had around the house, I painted the board solid black.
I have a friend that cuts vinyl things for me at a great price. I had her print out my words for the sign in white vinyl. I added my vinyl to my sign and eyeballed it. You can use a ruler to find center board and make marks to ensure level placement for larger projects. But because this one was so small and simple I was able to line it up with out doing all of that.
I then sprayed polyurethane over the top of my finished sign to help it survive Missouri weather.
The board was $1.60. The vinyl lettering was $5. Such a simple project and cost me only $6.60. I love the way that it turned out!
DIY Fishing Lure Prints
I looked all over for the perfect pictures to hang in the bathroom at the condo. Something black-and-white that related to the Lake would be amazing. I just couldn’t find what I wanted so I decided to make my own artwork.
There were prints on the internet that I thought would look great. I got two black picture frames with white matting from Walmart for $5 each. Perfect and inexpensive.
DIY Whale Wall Art
While scrolling for miles and miles on Pinterest for ideas for the condo, I came across the cutest whale picture. I knew I wanted to add him to my wall art somehow. He would be the perfect touch. See my Pinterest board on Lake Décor here. It has a ton of great Ideas on how to decorate a unique Lake House.
To make this guy, I got a piece of precut 1/4″ hardboard plywood (think luan flooring) from Home Depot. I free hand drew my whale onto the board with a pencil. After I was happy with the design, I used a jigsaw to cut the shape out of the wood. Then I sanded the sides to make sure I didn’t have any rough edges. With some left over black and gray paint, I painted the whale board. To hang on the wall I put Velcro command strips on the back of my whale and pressed onto the wall. It adds to the nautical feel of that room.
Black and White Prints
The day we closed on the condo was such a relief. Buying a condo is way different than buying a house. Who knew all of the association insurances and rules would be such a complicated pain! We got the keys and CELEBRATED! I enlarged black-and-white prints of pictures taken that day. These darling DIY prints definitely show our feelings at that moment. Jason with a thumbs up on the dock, and me relaxing in the cabana!
I found two picture frames from Pottery Barn Outlet that were 90% off of the damaged cart. (I also got a large 24″ x 36″ chalkboard from the damaged cart for $4.60 that looks great on a different wall.) The frames were in pretty good shape and the roughed up edges only enhanced their charm. Easy Peasy!
For fun, I had black and white prints made of family and friends visiting the lake with us. I started a collage on the door of the deck that I will add to each year as we make more memories with the people we love. It has already become a fun hangout for guests to check out.
Lake House Coordinate Sign
Back to the 70% off cart at home depot. There was a 1 x 4 x 10 that looked almost perfect. The associate cut off the 6 or so inches that were damaged. I painted the board white with the some leftover paint. I found the coordinates for the condo online here. To put the design onto my board, I used some stencils and gray acrylic craft paint . I lightly sanded my sign to make it look distressed. I love the way it looks and it only cost $2 for this DIY project.
Large Distressed Deck Sign
I searched for a large piece of wood for this project. I wanted it to be big enough to mock an old lakefront fishing /gas one stop store that you find on the water.
I got an 1x8x12 board from the 70% off cart and had my “crew” (can I call them that now after so many projects?) take off any undesirable inches. The whole board was painted two different shades of gray with some white streaked in here and there. @lovegrowswild.com has an easy post on how to distress signs. I used a layered technique of lightly coating the board with back and forth horizontal swipes.
After the paint dried, I printed large block letters and taped the pieces of paper together to make a large template. I then took a pencil and chalked the back of the template where all of the letters were. I place the stencil over the top of the board and traced the letters. When I lifted the template you could see a light pencil marking on my piece of wood. I filled in the markings with a darker gray paint. After it dried, I lightly sanded the entire project for a distressed look. I sprayed polyurethane to protect from weather. This simple and inexpensive guy hangs above the sliders on our deck and looks great.
Random Art
For multiple DIY signs, I went to Michael’s and used 50% coupon to buy different sized canvases. I painted them a light coat of off white paint. I searched Pinterest and found a few great sayings that I liked and added them to the canvases. If you want a more professional feel, you can have your silhouette friend print you the vinyl or even a stencil. Or make your own DIY by the tracing technique I used with the deck sign.
I hung all of my canvas artwork with command strips. It is a great way to be able to move my art where I want and not have to worry about patching any holes later. Jason hung my heavier signs with screws to secure.
These fun and simple projects helped me to feel like I have left my mark on our home away from home. It is such a great feeling doing projects like this myself. Plus I love saving money!! ~ Susie Pea
What kind of DIY projects do you like to do? Let me know in the comments below. If you like DIY’s, check out my post on DIY Chalk board here. And my DIY Burlap Wreath here. And I just added my Easy and Quick DIY T-Shirt Blanket.
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