Buffalo Check Nursery Sign Tutorial

My Buffalo Check Nursery Sign is sponsored by DecoArt. As always the ideas and opinions shared are my own.

If you haven’t noticed, I have a bit of an obsession with buffalo check! I painted an accent wall in our daughter’s nursery in pink buffalo check so I decided to carry on that theme by making a sign in grey buffalo check with her initial on it for her room. I love how it turned out and it’s the perfect addition to her room.

Of course a sign like this could decorate any space, not just a nursery. It would make a great gift, too!

Buffalo Check Nursery Sign

Supplies

Americana Premium Acrylics in Titanium White, Dark Grey Volume 3, Quinacridone Magenta and Vermillion Hue
Walnut Hollow unfinished wood sign
Fine grit sand paper
Wood initial
Painters tape (Frog Tape is my favorite, there is no bleeding!)
Paint brush and foam brush
Industrial strength adhesive

Directions

Lightly sand the entire surface of the unfinished wood sign and paint with 2 coats of Americana Premium Acrylics in Titanium White. Lightly sand between coats.

Apply painters tape vertically with equal space between each stripe across the painted sign. To make it easiest, I made the size of each stripe the size of my painters tape (1 ¼”). The first set of stripes when painting buffalo check will be the lightest grey. The Americana Premium Acrylics are easy to mix with high pigmentation so you can make whatever colors you want exactly if it doesn’t already exist. For my lightest color I mixed about 4 parts Titanium White with 1 part Dark Grey Volume 3; you can experiment with mixing until you find your perfect shade. Paint in between tape with 2 coats of this mixture. Although the paint will dry quickly so you can move onto the next coat fast, it’s still a good idea to cover the bowl or plate housing your paint with plastic wrap or press n seal to avoid the paint getting dried out.

Carefully and slowly peel back the painters tape. Turn the sign and tape off stripes horizontally. Paint in between tape with 2 coats of the same paint mixture.

This time do not remove horizontal tape. Turn the sign and re-tape vertical stripes in the same exact position as the original vertical tape.

For this step I needed a darker shade of grey so I mixed 3 parts Titanium White with 1 part Dark Grey Volume 3. Use this mixture to paint 2 coats to the exposed areas.

Carefully and slowly peel back and remove all painters tape.

The perfect grey buffalo check every time!

For the initial, I wanted a similar color to the paint color in my daughter’s nursery so I did some more color mixing. It’s really fun to be able to create a color that’s all your own! First I mixed Titanium White and Quinacridone Magenta but since Quinacridone Magenta is a cool pink, I mixed in some Vermillion Hue to make the pink a little bit of a warmer shade. I painted the top of the letter only with 2 coats of this color and left the sides white.

Determine where you want to position the initial on your buffalo check nursery sign and apply a generous amount of Gorilla Glue industrial adhesive down the center of the entire letter (but not so much that the adhesive will flow out from underneath the letter onto the sign). Allow the adhesive to set and get tacky for a couple of minutes before applying to the buffalo check nursery sign. Place a heavy object on top of the letter (be careful not to shift it when you place it) and let it set up for 24 hours.