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\"Welcome\" signs often charmingly grace the gate or front door of a cozy cottage, beckoning visitors to come inside. You can add even more color and whimsy both inside and outside your cottage by easily and inexpensively making clever signs yourself with a little plywood, a jigsaw, and some paint.
10 Tips:
1. Secret Garden. This is a sweet sign to put on a garden gate. Or, hand paint the words onto a cleverly cut-out sign, nail it to a stake, and insert it into a flower pot on your patio.
2. To the Beach. A piece of wood with one end cut out in the shape of a hand with the pointer finger that points and says “To the Beach” adds whimsy and charm.
3. Quirky Quotes. Paint a sign and add a short favorite quote to express your personality. I have a favorite sign in my home by poet Emily Dickinson that says, “Dwell in Possibility.”
4. Seaside Serenade. Paint a sign sea-blue, glue some sand and shells along the bottom, and write the often-seen saying, “If you’re lucky enough to live at the beach you’re lucky enough” on it for a welcome to your beach cottage.
5. Bon Appetit. Paint a sign to match the colors in your kitchen with the words “Bon Appetit” on it.
6. Post-It Notes. Paint and nail several signs pointing in opposite directions on a lamp post outside your cottage with words on them such as “Beach,” “For the Birds,” “Bloomingdales,” “Yacht Club,” or “Johnson Wedding.”
7. Bathroom Bliss. Post a sign on your bathroom door that says “Powder Room” or “Ladies’ Room.”
8. Home Office Haven. Post an “Office” sign on your office door that matches your room’s décor.
9. High Maintenance. Tired of noise and need a nap? Embroider the words “High Maintenance, Please Do Not Disturb” on a small pillow with a rope attached for hanging on your bedroom doorknob.
10. Rock of Ages. Find a flat river rock, paint “Paradise Found” and some pretty flowers on it and place it in a pot in your garden.
So…what “sign of the times” will you come up with to express yourself in “sign language” in your own cottage style home?!
Copyright 2006 Kathryn Bechen Designs. All rights reserved worldwide.
Kathryn Bechen is a veteran freelance writer, and a former interior decorating consultant and professional organizer who has been interviewed by and featured in San Diego Home & Garden Lifestyles magazine, the Omaha World Herald, RealtyTimes.com and others. Her originally authored articles have been published in newspapers, a national decorating magazine, and across the internet. Kathryn is also author of two e-books: 191 Tips for Indoor & Outdoor Cottage Style at Home and Moving With Ease: The 8 Week Plan for an Organized & Stress-Free Move Whether You Hire a Mover or Do It Yourself! In addition, Kathryn has taught organizing seminars and spoken to groups as large as 400, and has also taught writing. For more information, go to http://www.kathrynbechenink.blogspot.com
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