Painting letters on a toybox

Any type of paint will hold up. Definitely put a sealant over the entire thing when you are finished, especially since it is for a child. If you don’t want to spend the money on wood letters, you could use a lot of things to make it creative. However, you can even save money on stencils by simply printing the letters in a work document and cutting them out and using them as stencils. You can find pertty affordable wood letters at places like Walmart, instead of going to a craft or wood store, which is normally more expensive.

-- Paul, Pennsylvania, http://www.RemodelingContractorPA.com

Thanks. Any recommendations for a finish to use over whichever paint I decide on (which will probably just be an indoor latex paint).

Water-based poly? Acrylic? Something else?

-- Andrew - Albany. NY

if you use regular poly over white paint you will have yellow letters. My students call it “snot white”. So use water based poly or a clear acrylic.

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Thanks for this topic, Andrew, and to others for your input. I’m planning to make a Hello Kitty bed for my great niece and had the same concerns about what finish to use over the painted bed. Looks like you’ve answered my question.

-- Bob, Atlanta

Glad it helped you, Bob. The more I think about it, the more I thiink painted-on letters would look cheap. I think I’ll either attempt to cut my won letters or just splurge for the wood ones. I think poly-acrylic finish over latex paint is the way I’ll go.

-- Andrew - Albany. NY

I was giving this some more thought. If you use a router to “carve” the letters you get a different look. might add a bit of dimention.

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That would be really cool…but I don’t think I have the skills to do that successfully…

-- Andrew - Albany. NY

Could Woodburn the letters in

-- David ; "BE SAFE BE HAPPY" Brockport , NY

I did find wood letters for only $3 each, so I went with that, despite the 8-letter name!

-- Andrew - Albany. NY