How to Decorate an Individual Wooden Fence Picket
Picket fences evoke the American dream of owning a traditional-style home. These fences are usually painted white, and homeowners often decorate them by planting luscious gardens close to the fence so that flowers dance among the pickets. But there is also an honored tradition of decorating the pickets. A tour of a historical district where homes have elaborate picket fences will usually reveal a great deal of originality in transforming the simple picket into something special. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Decorative design
- Photocopies or prints
- Sample picket
- Adhesive back plastic sheet
- Stencil cutting tool
- Cutting board
- Scissors
- Tape (optional)
- Pencil
- Artist brushes
- Stenciling brushes
- Acrylic paints
Instructions
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Select a simple decorative design like a fleur de lis, diamond, heart, circle, moon, star, curl or similar. The shape should be immediately recognizable.
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Make several sizes of your selected design. Use a photocopier or manipulate the size of an image using your computer. Test out these sizes on the picket. Many pickets have urn-shaped heads; one location is to center the design on the decorative head of the picket. Select the size that fits the best.
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Place the design on a suitable cutting surface. Position an adhesive backed plastic sheet over the design and use a stencil cutter (similar to a wood burning pen) to cut the design into the plastic.
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Mark and cut the plastic (using scissors) to the shape of the picket head to make it easy to position the template on a picket without measuring each time. As an option, use tape to create outlines down the length of the picket. A thin outline can highlight the shape of the picket.
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Press the plastic design to the picket. The adhesive back will act like a tape. Trace the design with a pencil or paint acrylic paint directly on the picket with an almost dry paint brush. Different techniques will produce alternative effects.
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Tips & Warnings
Use the sample picket to try different designs and an assortment of paint colors to find the design that looks the best for your project.
