Hi! It's Mel and Steff from Find it, Make it, Love it. We are happy as always to be guests for the Wood Connection! With July coming right up, we are getting patriotic and sharing this cute USA door hang. We're thinking this project is one of our favorite's so far!
We are excited about TWO super helpful tricks we discovered to make this project fool proof! You'll be hanging an adorable flag painted map on your door or wall in no time!
Let's get started! First step: Paint the entire USA board white. Just one coat for a white washed look. Painting the back is optional, it's totally up to you.
Let that dry. Next, let's paint the stripes. Painting stripes can be somewhat intimidating, making sure they are straight and spaced perfectly. We came up with a clever trick to make painting stripes easy peasy. To start, place one piece of painter's tape across the middle. This is the only length of tape you have to eyeball. To give you an idea of where we started with the tape, we placed the first stripe over the small nub at about North Carolina.
Now for the tape spacing trick! Tear a small piece of the painters tape and fold it into itself, sticky sides together. Leave a small portion of one sticky side exposed so you can stick it to the board. Make two 'spacers,' and place them above that first stripe. Now you'll see exactly where to place the next length of tape! Lift up the two spacers and place them above that second stripe, then place the next length of tape. This will give you perfectly spaced stripes! Repeat until the whole USA board has stripes. 
Now that the stripes are taped off, press the tape really well especially the edges. Begin dabbing the red paint. Dabbing and brushing away from the tape edges will help create beautiful crisp lines.
Two coats of red paint is plenty. Remember, we're distressing this to look like a weathered flag, so perfection is not necessary! Once the paint is dry, peel off the tape.
Now it's time to trace the stars. The best way to do this is to determine how far down and across you want the stars to be. Once you have that decided, tape the paper in place, flip over the board and trace along the top and side edges. Then remove it from the board and cut along your trace. If it's not a perfect fit around the edges, don't worry, you can sand the paper edges to be a perfect fit once it's glued.
Use wood glue to adhere the paper to the board. Put the glue on the paper, making sure to get all the edges really well.
Now the weathered flag trick! Put a small amount of stain on a foam brush and paint over the entire surface, even the paper. A little stain goes a long way here. Have a rag or paper towel close by in case it's a little heavier in spots-just rub it off as you go if needed.
The last step is sanding. Sand around all the edges, making sure to sand around the paper edges to get the perfect fit like we mentioned earlier. Then sand over the whole surface, except the top of the paper. Sand away as much or as little as you want to get the perfect weathered look. Remember you can always touch up any places that may need it with more paint or stain.
Finally, use a staple gun to attach a piece of rope to the back for hanging.
Do you love it? We sure do! It's just perfect to have up from Memorial Day and all through July. Of course, it can be out year round if you'd like too!
We taught this project at a class at the Wood Connection this month and it was fabulous! We do classes each month at the Murray store and the American Fork store. Be sure to check back each month to see what we've got coming next! You can follow us both on Instagram to get a first peek at upcoming classes.
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