DIY Parking Garage

Baker's stocking was a huge hit this year! Santa was on a tight budget so he had to get a little creative. ;) We really love homemade gifts and toys anyways so we enjoy creating things for our home that are unique and special. We can't take credit for this idea at all. I actually found it here! But we did customize it a bit to fit our needs. Baker loved it so much and it was such an easy and inexpensive project. I thought I'd share the details in case anyone else has a car or truck lover like we do and wants to give this DIY a try!

All we used to make this was a crate, some scrap PVC pipe and a piece of scrap wood. The crate is from Michael's and was about $14. (We used a 50% off coupon.) Overall, we spent a whopping $9 on everything! I do like the look of natural unstained wood, but I wanted it to look a little more polished so we put one coat of light wood stain on the crate. And because our little boy has cars and trucks of all shapes and sizes we decided to incorporate two different size PVC tubes to accommodate them all. The tubes fit very tightly in the size crate we used so we didn't think it was necessary to glue them in. But, if you used a different size crate or PVC you could easily hot glue them in to secure them, as well.

I decided to distress and Mod Podge the little "Parking Garage" sign. I don't have a Cricut machine nor do I have the best hand lettering skills so this was the next best approach to getting a really precise look! I do have a few tips if you want to attempt this technique! Mod Podge is a really simple product to use. I have the liquid product in both the matte and glossy finish, as well as their all-in-one aerosol spray product. I actually used both the matte liquid and the spray on this project and I'll tell you why below!

The first thing I did was design and print my wording. I then cut it to my desired size and shape. After I painted and distressed my sign, I sealed the sign by spraying it with the aerosol Mod Podge product and letting it dry completely. This step is what kept my blue paint from smearing across the white paper once I was ready to attach my wording. 

Once the Mod Podge spray coat was dry I applied one layer of matte Mod Podge liquid to use as glue for my piece of paper. After I placed my wording where I wanted I just painted one last thick coat of matte Mod Podge all over the entire sign. The product goes on looking milky and thick, but dries completely clear providing a seamless and permanent finish. I chose to hot glue it to the top of the crate so there wouldn't be any visible nail or staple holes.

It turned out so darling! And it could be customized and used in so many different ways. An incredibly simple and inexpensive DIY product that our little boy absolutely loves! Happy DIY-ing!

-Lauren