DIY Metallic Letters

Big news in the de Jong household! We're going to be parents again...to a teen girl...from the Netherlands! One of our goals for our new house was to host an exchange student. We're working with CIEE, and have been matched with a Dutch girl who seems to be a great fit for our family. She'll be arriving at the end of August and stay here throughout the school year. 

I've been having a lot of fun getting her room ready. I don't have a lot of opportunity to do girly, as I live with two boys. This is what the room looked like after I found a brand new Target lamp at a garage sale:

I was trying to think of something fun to put above the bed. I liked the idea of putting her name up, since that what we did in D's room.

I found some white letters at JoAnn's. A few of the letters were rather scuffed. I'm not a good painter, so I was trying to figure out how to pretty them up.

I remembered something I saw a few years ago at a model home. The letters of a child's name were covered in aluminum foil. I liked the idea of silver letters because of the way they reflect light and the colors in the room, but I didn't think the foil was very neat. Then I remembered that I had picked up some metallic contact paper on a clearance rack several months ago.

I wasn't sure if it would work, so I sampled with the back of a letter. I removed the protective part of the contact paper, and laid the letter down on the sticky side. Then I roughly cut around the letter. 

The contact paper attached well. I learned that any dust or say, a price tag, would make the seal uneven, so I mostly remembered to wipe each letter down first.

I used an exacto knife to cut the excess contact paper away. It was really easy once I folded down the paper around the letter.

I really like the shine and subtle texture of the contact paper.

And done!

The letters will sit inside a Ikea Ribba photo ledge. We'll hang it up once we buy her nightstand and can center the bed correctly.

I love the way the letters reflect the colors in the room.

A few more pictures of her room.

Stay tuned for more photos of this room as we add a small desk, bookshelf, and nightstand.

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