DIY Large Wood Fence Picket American Flag Sign

Tis the season to be working on projects outside!  We are in the midst of a gorgeous week with actual spring temperatures in Georgia, which is rare for May (usually we go straight to 90 degrees so I am soaking up all these 70 degree days!)  This spring I am really working on sprucing up the backyard in our fixer-upper home so when this month’s DIY at home challenge was making it pretty outdoors I had quite a few projects that I wanted to tackle.  But sprucing up the side of our shed and a fun DIY project I wanted to tackle before summer made it to the top of the list.

But first, let’s take a step back to where we started.  When we bought our fixer-upper house we inherited this shed in the backyard  – huge blessing for the outdoor storage and huge eyesore too.  Whew… It had never been painted and this picture was actually after we spent a long weekend putting proper cement block foundation under it instead of it being propped up on jenga-like blocks of 2×4’s.  Our home insurance gave us 30 days to fix that or they wouldn’t even insure us – yep, that bad!

Since then we had the exterior of our house painted and I asked the painter to leave a few extra gallons of paint so I could paint the shed.  We also had a ramp built so we could get our lawnmower and equipment in and out of the shed.  It was looking much better but definitely could use some more sprucing up.  I planted a few plants at the corner last year and had plans to move all the pool equipment to the back of the shed and do something to the side of the shed to dress it up a bit.

So for this DIY challenge, I decided to make a huge wood flag made out of fence pickets and add some landscaping to the side of the shed too.  Look how cute it is now!

Definitely a much better view from the pool than the before!

So here’s how I did it and the supplies I used:

• 15- 6 foot long fence pickets (or 13 pickets and a few pieces of scrap wood)
• DecoArt Curb Appeal paint – Estate Red, New England Navy, Farmhouse White
• large metal star (or you could stencil or stamp 50 stars)
• exterior screws

I picked up 15 fence pickets – 13 for the flag and 2 extra for the back to screw it together.  I lightly sanded each one before painting.

I used DecoArt Curb Appeal paint which is one of my favorite paints to use for exterior projects like shutters, front door, mailbox posts, or projects like this.  It covers in one coat and dries very fast!

Once all the red and and white pickets were painted I flipped them over and secured the back using the 2 extra pickets and 2 additional scrap boards I had.  Then I flipped it back over, taped off the corner for the blue portion and painted that.

My husband helped me hang it by just screwing long screws straight through the fence pickets and back supports into the studs of the shed.  I had a large metal star that I had used on my deck at our last house that was just collecting dust in the attic.  I spray painted it white and decided to use it instead of painting on 50 stars   I have also seen people hang a wreath with starfish on it in the blue field and love that look too.

Now that the side of the shed was dressed up it was time to add some landscaping!  I picked up 4 tall grass type plants on clearance and some perennial flowers and created a simple landscape bed.  Once the plants grow it will also help disguise the bottom of the shed and the cinder blocks.

Cannot wait to see how this area looks at end of summer and next spring as the plants grow!  We still have more work to do on the other sides of the shed – think we may just landscape fabric/mulch around the whole thing making it easier to keep the grass/weeds away and so we can store things we need to back there like pool equipment.

This will be such a pretty view as we spend time at the pool this summer especially with all the patriotic holidays coming up!  I love adding patriotic touches around our home and this 6 foot wood flag definitely does that!

Have been working outside this spring?  Have a shed that could use some sprucing up?  I’d love to know what you’ve been working on!

See all the other outdoor projects that the At Home DIY participants created this month below…