Dangerous Room Sign

A few years ago when the Dangerous Book for Boys came out, our youngest son loved it. The book covers all kinds of essential boyhood skills, many which require outside playing, exploring, and building. We were thrilled to encourage more outside time for our very high energy child during a time when the digital world was encroaching. We liked everything about this: the book itself, the fact that our son wanted to read, and the way it inspired him to go outside and play. Being a graphic designer extraordinaire, my husband created a poster to hang in our hall right outside our son’s room. This was one of those projects that was never finished until recently. Even though our son is older, we still love the idea of playing outside and exploring, no matter what age, so we wanted to finish the project and put the sign up.

Here’s how my husband did it: he built a frame to hold a piece of plywood, Mod Podged the poster to the plywood, and coated it with polyurethane.

Then he created a frame for the poster and painted it with a layer of black, then a layer of red, then a couple more layers of black. He attached it to the structure of the poster, and sanded it until just the right amount of red showed on the frame. It was coated in polyurethane, then hung on the wall.

These photos don’t look as good as the sign actually looks in our hall. It’s just a dark spot and the light is too low for no flash. These are the best photos I could get, but trust me, it looks great.

And just in case you’re wondering, our son’s real name isn’t Bubba. When he was a little guy he joined a soccer team and there was already somebody on the team with his name, so the coach said what’s your nickname? He said Bubba. {I was mortified!} And it stuck. For years everyone called him Bubba. What was meant to be a loving, internal family nickname for an adorable, chubby baby had turned into this child’s name. Just a little reminder to be careful what you call your kids at home – it could escape! There are still quite a few people in his life who call him Bubba. He is transitioning to his real name, but it is a slow process. At first I was embarrassed that he chose that as his team nickname. But now that it’s attached to one of the sweetest boys I know, I’m good with it. And I will forever smile at the Bubba’s Dangerous Room for Boys sign at the end of our hallway.

Linking up to some of these fabulous parties:

Lil’ Luna Link Party
Sunday Round Up @ Heatherly Loves

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