I have a reclaimed wood wall in my office. I am crazy about the warm, rustic look of the wall but I wanted a statement piece for the wall. As principal of a high school, I knew I wanted it to reflect our school and my rustic, vintage vibe. I settled on a large marquee style electrified letter I. I wanted it to look industrial, vintage, and be large enough to be the wow statement for the office.
The big I is 36 inches tall and 24 inches wide. I cannot imagine what buying one that size would cost to purchase, but I know it would be more expensive than I would be willing to spend.
Here is what we did:
First we cut out the letter from a sheet of plywood.
The I was easy to cut out because the letter has all straight lines.
Next we edged the back of the letter with 1 inch by 1 inch moulding so that there is a place for the wires and sockets to hide.
Next, the plywood was painted white.
To give the I the marquee look, we used patio lights and roof flashing.
Hubby attached the flashing with 1 inch sheet metal screws around the edge.
Hubby is the math dude so he taped off two rows along the big part of the I then one piece of tape on the top and bottom.
Hubby figured out where to put all the bulbs. We only used 24 of the 25 sockets. the 25th one is safely covered with electrical tape and is hanging out in the back of the letter with the rest of the wires.
I don’t drill straight. I try, but it just doesn’t come out the way I want without the awesome drill press we have at the Garagemahal. I was too impatient to wait until then so Hubby used the paddle bit to drill holes for the sockets to fit in.
The back is ugly. Who cares?
I pulled off all the shaggy parts before we got busy putting the sockets into the hole and screwing in the bulbs.
I am crazy about how this giant letter looks on the wall.
I am alllmooost finished with the office. Good thing, since next week the kids show up.
I hope you have a great day!
Blessings,
Karen
Leave a Reply