Last summer one of my readers offered me some cupboard doors.  She was remodeling her bathroom and the doors were going to be discarded.  They are the perfect size and shape for turning into stenciled signs.  I always appreciate finding the ones that don’t have an arched panel that makes them wrong for turning sideways.

I’ve already shared a makeover of one of these doors, but I had three left that I was saving for Christmas themed signs.

But then time got away from me.  I worked on other projects, and I spent a week in Mexico, and now here we are just 10 days away from Christmas.  It’s pretty much too late to sell Christmas decor.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t still paint one up for myself, right?

After my usual prep of cleaning with a TSP substitute and scuff sanding, I decided to pull out some milk paint.  It’s been a while since I’ve used milk paint, I wasn’t sure I still knew how!  But I like a chippy look, so I decided to go for it.

I wanted to go with a traditional Christmas red and I ended up having just enough of Miss Mustard Seed’s Tricycle left for this sign.

However, as any of you who have used milk paint know, sometimes you just don’t get the chipping!  I tried to fake it by using tape to pull off some paint (sort of like using tape to remove cat hair from your black leggings) and I got a few little chips here and there, but not a lot.

I also ordered myself a new stencil for this one.  I did have an older ‘bed and breakfast’ style stencil that I’ve used on lots of items …

but it was getting rather worn out (because I’m not good about cleaning my stencils after each use!).

So I searched high and low for a new stencil, and I specifically wanted a Christmas themed bed and breakfast design.  I thought there would be lots to choose from, but I really only found a handful of possibilities.  Ultimately I decided on this one from The Stencil Smith.

I liked that I could order it in an appropriate size for my cupboard door.  Well … close to the right size anyway, I did have to mask off the border.  But that’s OK, I don’t particularly love the border anyway.

I did use my shadowing technique just on the words “bed” and “breakfast”.

If you aren’t familiar with this technique, you simply place your stencil just below and to the left of center and apply the stencil with a darker, shadow color.  In this case I used Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean.  Once that is dry, move your stencil up and over just a tad and stencil again with your final color.  I used Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth here.

The shadow barely shows up in photos, but it really does make a world of difference in person, adding a lot of depth to the final look.

By the way, I don’t think I mentioned it, but the reason I specifically wanted a ‘bed and breakfast’ sign was because I planned to hang this in our bedroom.

I’ve hung it above my jelly cupboard (where I keep clothes, not jelly).  I draped it with some faux holly garland and a string of red, green and white lights.

I added a vignette to the top of the cupboard made up of a few of my favorite things.

Some vintage ornaments and ornament boxes, and that cute little lantern that I made up last year.

I also added some red and green books, and a ‘Christmas time’ clock

By the way, my friend Netti gave me that red book, The Q Document.  She thought it had my name written all over it 😉

I found these red and green vintage ornaments while out shopping with opK last week.

Now, I have to confess.  My original plan was to give the entire room a new red and green holiday look this year.  I was going to use those green shutters that I picked up last week and hang them behind the bed and breakfast sign, but ultimately I didn’t think my plaster walls could handle the weight.

I also found this adorable throw pillow at Michaels …

and I ordered a green and red plaid duvet set from Amazon.

Unfortunately, when that set arrived it was awfully cheap and tacky looking.  So that went back.  I found a nice looking set on Pottery Barn’s website, but at about $300 for the duvet cover and a pair of shams it’s a bit out of my price range.  I did then find another set on Amazon that I’m going to try, but it won’t be here in time for a Christmas blog post.

So for this year, the full-on red and green Christmas bedroom is on hold.

In the meantime, how do you like the Bed and Breakfast sign?

Although I did paint this one up with myself in mind, I would be willing to part with it if any of you locals need a last minute Christmas gift for someone … or even just some last minute decor for yourself.  I can always paint another for myself.  So check out my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details!