Electrical panel art project, part deux

I was able to eke out some more time this past weekend to work on the new cover for the electrical panel. When last you saw it, it was a plywood panel nailed onto a frame. During the week I filled in the nail holes with wood filler and sanded. And then...

I got the base-coat of white painted on.

Then I added a coat of Piedmont Grey. If you're keen, you'll recall that's the same colour we've been using on the cabinets around the cottage.

What's that!? AUGH! the wood panelling bubbled from the moisture in the paint! It's ok, right? It's supposed to look distressed and worn, right!?

In hindsight, I probably could've skipped this coat, because it doesn't show much through the top layer of paint, which is...

... Polar Jade. This is the darkest colour in the striped fabric in the living room, and also the colour of the piping I put around the pillows that I made not too long ago.

After meticulously painting the final coat on and letting it dry, I grabbed a coarse-grit sandpaper and scuffed the heck out of it. That pained me. Kind of a lot.

I'm not super happy with the distressing either. I doesn't look as "worn" as the inspiration panel. I think I need to beat it up more. Maybe drag it face-down along the driveway?

I noticed something else at this point. Does this not remind you of a "green" chalkboard from school? That was not the look I was going for!!!! *bites nails* Too late to turn back now.

I broke out my handy-dandy enlarger projector and traced the small image I wanted onto the panel.

And then I started to fill it in with white paint. this photo is after the first coat of white on the letters.

It's taking me a bit longer than I had expected to build this, but the price is right. As a ballpark effort estimate, I figure I've spent:

1-hr putting together the frame and panel
30 minutes on each coat of paint (1.5 hr)
30 minutes - maybe less - to trace the words
30 minutes on each pass of the letters  with white paint (2 so far).

Total effort: About 4 hours, but it's been a work in progress for nearly two weeks as I wait for paint to dry, etc.

I'll post another shot when we get it mounted so you can see how it looks in situ.

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*disclaimer: I would like to add that I had no intention of completely duplicating the inspiration panel. I had spent several hours in photo shop fiddling with various fonts, but at the end of the day, I just love that dang cursive font so much I HAD to use it. Don't do what i do.