Slightly Coastal Nautical Spring Front Door

Here’s a dirty little secret, I love looking at those glossy home decor catalogs as much as the next gal, but I just can’t force myself to spend the big bucks on those items.  Sometimes I buy cheaper stuff and then end up spending more to get the real thing in the end.  Sometimes I buy the cheaper stuff and it really works out.  It’s just a big gamble around here.  Today I am going to share one of the bargains I found at T.J. Maxx and how I made it more me.  Meet my new coastal nautical door hanger, with a monogram no less!

It didn’t start out looking the way it does now.  It was cute, just a little plain.  I spied it on an end cap and I will tell you on my way to the cash register another woman asked in a desperate voice if there was another.  Nope.  This was the only one.  My husband was walking with me and he said, “Wow, you are such a good shopper.  You should do it more often.”  Can you hear the sarcasm coming at you?  He’s a funny guy and I actually like shopping with him.

I painted some white stripes in a little bit of a haphazard way.  I didn’t want it to look too perfect because I loved the distressed not so perfect feel it already had.  I used inexpensive acrylic paint in white.  I didn’t tape it off but rather just eyeballed the lines to keep the worn nautical look of the anchor.

I love the look of the monogrammed door hangers that can be found on Etsy.  I especially like the coastal nautical look.  Not only do I not like the price of them, but I just don’t have the patience to wait a week or more to get them in the mail.  I’m not very patient when it comes to projects.  I sort of get and idea and before anyone knows what is going on, the project is spread out all over the kitchen table.  I happened to find these wood letters in WalMart.  I knew the two different sizes would make it “read” like it was a more custom monogram.

I glued the letters on and popped it back on the door.  To make it more custom took me less than an hour.  I am so happy with the result.  I think this door hanger will carry me through the summer with an addition of a few pops of red for the 4th of July.  I love when that happens.  Have you done a project lately that was just too easy?  I would love to hear about it.