Letter M - Industrial Wall Decor

Hey there!

One thing you cannot ignore when entering this room is the BIG letter M.

That big chunk of wall was calling for something big. At first, I wanted to hang or paint a chalkboard, but then, the thought of getting lots of dust on the dark floors kept me away from it.

So, the letter M won this battle. I'm glad my son's name begins with such an easy letter. :)

Yeah, it was easy, but since I wasn't following a tutorial, some trial and error was necessary, as you can see in the picture below.

The good thing is, you don't have to go through that trouble.

I measured and took note and here you can download the plan. Hey, I even have measurements for the "rivet" placement. ;)

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The materials and tools you'll need:

¼" Plywood or cardboard 36" x 42"
27' Parting bead ½ in. x ¾ in.
Wood glue
Duct tape
Googly eyes (7 or 8 mm)
Picture hanging hardware: Sawtooth hangers 2
Black acrylic paint
Metallic spray paint
Clamps
Jig saw
Small paint brush
hot glue gun
Measuring tape and pencil

Directions

Follow the plan to draw the letter onto the wood and cut the shape out using the jig saw.

I was working on this project during the big snow storm a couple of weeks ago, the garage was very cold. I quickly made the cuts without any guides and darted inside the home to finish the rest.

Note: when cutting with a jig saw, the bottom side of the wooden piece gets a cleaner face, splintering occurs along the top surface.

In order to give the letter some depth, parting bead was added. You can buy it at any home center or you can make your own, even a bit deeper.

The parting bead was cut to cover all the sides of the letter, and was attached with wood glue, clamping the pieces while they dried.

I didn't pay much attention to the joints, after all, they were not going to show.

Once dry and ready to move on, the rough plywood edge was just too much. But, I didn't want to go and sand it. :/

The solution for smooth edges: Duck Tape. I found this weird design in my stash.

It worked great!

At this point you can finish it any way you want. I was going for an industrial look, my idea was to make it look like metal.

By accident - My daughter was working on a craft project - and out of all her supplies one googly eye fell to the floor, as I picked it up, the idea of using it as rivets appeared. They were hot glued along the center line.

Then, two coats of black acrylic paint were applied.

The final step was to spray paint it with metallic paint.

I'm not too happy at how this step went. It looks patchy. :(
I have a good excuse, though. I spray painted it inside the house and the fear of making the entire house small like paint terrified me. I did little sprays and it shows!

Once warmer temperatures arrive I'll do it again. ;)

Oh, two sawtooth hangers were added on the top/back in order to hang it onto the wall.

As you notice, the roman shade arrived. I bought it HERE. A 33W" x 64L" Gray - Cordless roman shade - After some specials they were having, I paid $33. So far, so good.

Ha, a good project for the Martha, Michael, Mary, Mark, Michelle, Matthew.... In your family!

For more projects tackled in this room check these out:

The Room Before

Removing wall / Door

Closet Makeover Part 1

Between the Studs Shelf - Closet Makeover Part 2

Flip-Out Bins closet storage