Fish & Fish Hook Cottage Signs

With some repurposed fence panels (old or new!) you can create a unique sign for your home or favorite vacation retreat.   We wanted to create something one-of-a-kind for our lake cottage.   I knew I wanted it to be in the shape of a big fish - so I did an internet search until I could find a shape similar to what I envisioned.  Next, my handyman in residence, Danny, mounted several old fence boards together to create a large panel for the base of the fish.   I first sketched the fish onto the wooden panel in pencil, so I could make changes and adjustments as needed.  Once I got a shape I liked,  I went over the pencil lines with a permanent marker to give him a clear line to cut.   

He used a saw to cut around the marker line and the fish began to come to life!   

I loved the finished shape - it was exactly what I was envisioning!   At this point, I chose not to paint the fish because I wanted the natural, repurposed wood look - but you certainly could add a pop of any color or stain the wood, etc. to get the desired effect you wanted.

On to the lettering.   We decided to name our cottage “Second Chance”.   We could have used lettering stencils, but I wanted something different.   I whipped out my laptop and began testing out fonts to see which one we thought would be best for the lettering.

We agreed that we liked “Coolock Black” the best! I printed out the lettering about 5” high and then out each letter. 

I arranged the cut out paper letters onto the fish to determine the right placement, then traced around each letter. 

Each letter was then pained with 3 coats of White Wash DecoArt® Americana® acrylic 

paint.  

After the paint was thoroughly dry, the entire sign was sprayed with a clear matte weatherproofing sealant.  

We also needed a house number sign for the cottage, and keeping with my “big fish” theme I decided it would be fun to have an oversized fishing hook for the sign.   Luckily, my resident handyman is not only a woodworker, but a metal worker and was able to bend a piece of tie-rod to the shape we wanted.   The same steps of printing, tracing, and hand painting the letters onto repurposed fence boards were used to create the wooden sign pieces.  Danny cut out a notch in the back of each piece of painted fence board and mounted the metal hook in the notch.  

We are absolutely thrilled with the finished signs and now we are anxious to move on to building window boxes from the same repurposed wood and to creating my new flower garden in the front of the cottage!