I believe I mentioned I have a thing for contact paper (Yep. Mm-hmm.) I’m back at it, this time sprucing up our entry way.
When we moved in, there was a small coat closet immediately inside the front door. Here’s the only photo we have of that situation. (Sorry, Sweetheart.)
As you can see, the entry was a little claustrophobic. The closet wasn’t very functional since it wasn’t deep enough to accommodate a regular hanger, so we tore it out in favor of this set up.
It’s still a tight little space, but it gets the job done. I found the simple white dresser via Craigslist and snagged the mirror for free when my parents’ neighbors put it out by their renovation dumpster. Wouldn’t have been my first choice of style, but the price was right and it’s definitely grown on me. So much so that I scrapped my plans to make it over with a little spraypaint and…that’s right…contact paper. I wanted to use the clear stuff to “etch” our last name in Braille down the side of the mirror. Here’s a snippet of what I mean.
I decided to leave the mirror alone, but I couldn’t drop the idea of using Braille somewhere in our house…Hold that thought….Above the not-getting-made-over mirror is a big empty wall. It’s not our most egregious empty space (hello, couch wall), but it feels like it needs something. I thought about installing a shelf, but frankly wasn’t sure what we’d put up there since we aren’t hurting for storage. And Hubby and I prefer the open space. Open, yes, but not naked.
I was staring at that space recently when it hit me that I could try a Braille installation of some sort up there. (“Installation” — that’s how you know this will be a very important and professional art project.) I could still turn to my trusty friend contact paper to get it done. I just needed something to say; something welcoming, but not “welcome” since that would be too short and we have it covered already.
(Disclosure: I completely copied that welcome print from something I saw online a million years ago and now I have no idea who to credit.) Then I remembered this plaque my parents have had hanging by their front door for most of my life.
I gather that having “peace to all who enter here” by the door is a Christian welcome (maybe Catholic?), although I don’t think it’s from scripture exactly. Honestly, I don’t know. I probably should. Feel free to enlighten me. I just thought it would work for us because (1) it’s a lovely sentiment; (2) it reminds me of my parents; and (3) it’s a great length to showcase the graphic nature of Braille without making this project overwhelming.
Let’s just cut to the chase, then I’ll walk you through my steps. Here it is.
And here’s how I did it…
Step 1: Install Braille font
I found my traditional six-dot Braille font here (free; Mac or PC).
Step 2: Plan layout & spacing
Once the font was installed, I tried out my phrase in two different layouts. Then I had to figure out spacing so I’d know the overall dimensions and could tell which layout would work best in our entry.
My one-inch hole punch was the star of this project, and it was an easy foundation to build from. There are very specific rules for spacing true Braille (see here), but my dots aren’t even raised to the touch…or easily accessible by hands…so this is clearly far from regulation. I developed my own simple system for spacing between lines (2″), between words (2″)*, between letters (1″), and between dots within one letter (.5″). One important note, Braille is a fixed-width font, which means that you leave space for all six dots for every character/letter, even if one column of three dot spaces will be completely empty.
With all this set, some quick math revealed that the overall size of my first layout option would be 10″ tall by 43″ wide. Since our entry nook is only 46.5″ wide, I opted to go with the second layout, which came in at 16″ tall by 31.5″ wide.
* The spacing between words really should have been 3.5″, the equivalent of one blank character. Oops.
Step 3: Make a template
I knew there was no way I could free hand my dot placement and have it look even moderately respectable. That stumped me for a while, but it ended up being rather easy to make a spacing template once I found some graph paper in my craft closet. I figured I could be trusted to get a one-inch dot stuck in the right place on the wall if I had a one-inch square to stick it in. Probably. So I got to work tracing it out…
…then cutting it out….
…until eventually I had this:
The graph paper was pretty flimsy, so I Mod Podged it to a piece of cardstock before I started cutting.
STEP 4: Make dots
I counted the dots in my phrase (62) and got punching. I really had to karate chop it since the contact paper otherwise got pulled and stuck in the punch. Let me tell you, my chopping hand was sore by the end of it all.
I suppose one could do this with a stencil rather than a punch, but that would make for lots of tracing and cutting and (if you’re sloppy like me) might not result in as clean a look. Uniform circles are key for this project.
STEP 5: Find a starting point
I decided to work from the bottom line up because the last line of my design is the widest and finding the bottom left corner was pretty simple. I just ran through this quick calculation: Width of entry nook (46.5″) minus width of design (31.5″) = 15″, divided by 2 = 7.5″ of blank space on either side. I repeated for the height, then made a pencil mark at the appropriate spot. Then it was template time, with the assistance of a level and some painter’s tape.
STEP 6: Stick ‘em up
You can probably guess how this went: peel, stick, repeat. Or more accurately: peel, check design, stick, repeat a bunch of times, move template, peel, check design, stick, repeat…
After about half an hour of that, I had this:
Like many of my projects, I was super excited while planning and executing but find myself slightly underwhelmed by the finished product. It IS exactly what I pictured, so I don’t know where my lack of enthusiasm is coming from. Maybe I’m just mourning the removal of “some sort of Braille project” from my DIY to-do list where it lingered for four years. It had gotten pretty comfortable there. Then I had to go and actually DO it. Sheesh. Anybody else feel oddly let down when you manage to actually complete a project, even if it turns out how you expected?
Teaser alert: It could also be that I finished this project on the day the house was done getting painted, and our newly yellow door was just stealing the show.
A full painted house reveal coming soon…
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Linking up to the DIY Showoff’s Project Parade; Chic on a Shoestring Decorating’s Flaunt it Friday; and with the Remodelaholic.