Vintage sign

So lately, I'm using stretched canvas for a lot of art. I like it because its cheap to buy, it gives me a creative outlet, and I can customize it to the size and colors I want. I loved how the ones for Ty's room came out, so I decided to do a big one for our room. 

I found one on Etsy that I really liked, but I wanted to have it finished before my housewarming party and there was no way I could get it in time, so I decided to make it. Here's a picture of my inspiration:

I bought a standard stretched canvas at Hobby Lobby (around $15 for a 24' x 48") and painted it the same color as our bathroom for a base color (free). Then, I made a template for what I wanted it to look like in Microsoft Publisher and made a transparency of it. I borrowed an overhead projector from the library and set my canvas on top of a chair and taped it there so it wouldn't move. I set up my projector so it would project the image on the canvas and started tracing. The image wound up being stretched and kinda weird, so I just got the basic shapes and then took it down and finished drawing it so it looked just right. 

Here's what it looked like after I traced the shapes and letters and painted my first letter. 

 Here's another shot:

I used the paint from my bedroom to paint the letters and design with: (free)

 But it just looked too plain. So, I thought I'd antique it a bit with some "Minwax Provential 211 stain". After all, I want it to look like I lucked into finding this old sign somewhere.

So, I got out my trusty brush and stain and rubbed it in until it looked good and dirty and worn. (again...I already had this on hand, so it was free)

But...it still didn't look right. It needed to pop...and it just kinda blended in. So, I asked Mrs. Connely what I should do (she's a teacher at my school who's way into art and very talented). She suggested that I make the Watkins & Co. stand out some more by making it darker. So, I added some black to my brown paint and this is what I came up with:

I still think it needs something more, but I can't put my finger on it so I'm leaving it until I figure it out. I think I should have done the whole thing in black instead of brown like the inspiration picture, but I don't know if I want to repaint the whole thing or not. Plus, it still looks pretty darn good with my bedding and wall colors. I should show a picture of what the room looks like, but Ty is asleep in my bed right now and I don't want to wake him up to take a picture. I'll post some pics later...