Many people spend lots of money on yard ornaments and landscaping to improve the look of their home. Here, you’ll find instructions for creating a signpost in your yard that’s whimsical, unique and not so hard to accomplish. The signpost will look cute in any yard and will point the way to all your favorite places.
A signpost is generally a tall board or pole, with pointer stakes attached, to show the way to places you know. It’s a fun way to add something different to your yard – something none of your neighbors or friends have! You can create the post for little money and you can probably use a couple of items you already have to create it.
A wooden post is the best choice because the pointer stakes you’ll later attach will be much easier to affix than if you were using a metal pole. An old tire can easily become the base and support for the pole. A four-by-four post is ideal for making the signpost. The four-by-fours are sold at home improvement stores and are usually implemented as landscaping perimeters for flower gardens and such. You’ll only need one four-by-four to create the signpost.
Use a posthole digger to create a hole in the dirt. The tire should be placed around the hole. Put the post in the hole and backfill with the dirt. Positioning large rocks around the bottom of the pole can help steady it. To really secure it purchase a bag of concrete mix from a home improvement or hardware store. The mix is a bag of powder, to which you add water, then pour into the tire. Allow to set up the recommended amount of time. It’s important that the pole be straight up and down and that it be steady. If you’ve filled the tire with rocks they can protrude from the top of the concrete or can be covered up completely.
Fence pickets make it easy for you to create the signs for the post. Cut the ends of the stakes off, so that you have one straight end and one pointed end, to make the individual signs. If you want the signpost to be colorful paint each individual pointer a different color. Or, use two or three colors to make the assorted signs.
Use an ordinary paintbrush to paint the title on each sign. One sign can say “Grandma’s House”, and can point east, and be positioned high up on the pole. Another sign can say “Church” and point west, but be positioned in the center of the pole. Other sign ideas include “School”, a favorite restaurant, a friend’s house, work, the airport, or even the movie theater. There’s no limit to the different signs you can create.
Although all the signs should be approximately the same size they don’t all have to be on the same side of the pole. Some can be on the front, others on the sides, still others on the backside. Each one should be positioned at a different height on the pole, no matter what side the sign is on. This creates a fun pole that has many signs which all point in different directions. Also, the signs don’t really have to point to the true direction of the place. If you live in the country, for example, everything might be in the same direction: towards town. If this is so, all your signs would point in the same direction, so mix it up and point them different ways.
Instead of a wooden post you can also use a metal pole. One easy way to do this is to use button magnets to hold the various signs. Glue flat, square or round magnets onto the back of each sign and simply stick them to the metal pole. After the pole is set inside the tire, and has been concreted to secure, it’s a simple matter of making the various signs.
If you only have flat pieces of wood, with straight edges, use black paint to draw arrows on the signs. Write the person’s name, or the location’s name, on the sign. Now paint an arrow, over the top or over the bottom of the name, to show the direction.
It’s lots of fun to make the cute and colorful signpost which will grab the attention from your visitors or people just driving by. Get suggestions from the kids of locations they’d like to see posted and make a few of your own! It’s a fun project that’s unique in every way.
Reference:
- Purchase magnets here: www.michaels.com
