DIY Farmhouse Sign Tutorial

DIY Farmhouse Sign Tutorial

We have been wanting something for above our bed for quite awhile. I really wanted a farmhouse sign but custom ordering them on Etsy can get quite expensive. I figured I could make one with scrap wood we had in the garage but needed a little bit of direction on how to go about it. I found this amazing tutorial from Shanty2Chic and ran with it- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idIxdmMeO_M.  I took the basics from the tutorial, but I don’t have a projector or plan to purchase one. So, here’s how I used their tutorial and made it my own.

Anyone with a steady hand, a few tools and a lot of patience can do this.  I had spare wood in the garage I used, so I can’t tell you exactly how much it cost. I would say you could most definitely do this project for under $20 (if you already have the tools). 

Materials-

Plywood 

1x2's- we needed 2 of these but if your sign is smaller, you may only need 1

White Paint- we used Valspar ceiling paint because we already had a gallon in the garage

Black Acrylic Paint

Paint Brushes

Stain of choice

Nails- we used 1 3/4" nails but could have gotten away with 1" nails.

Tools-

Circular Saw

Nail Gun and Compressor                                                                                                                                                                           

1. I used the spare plywood we had in the garage and measured out the size I wanted my sign. IT was something like 38" Wx 16"H. Keep in mind that you will be adding 1x2’s to the outside border, so factor that in your measurements.
2. I cut the plywood out to the size I wanted with our circular saw. (you could always ask Lowe's or HD to cut for you if you don't have a circular saw)
3. I sanded down any rough edges from the circular saw and painted the wood white. For this I only did one coat and some areas are thicker than others to give it that rustic look.
4. Once the white background paint was dry, I printed out the words I wanted to use. I actually downloaded the font I wanted and played around with size. I am a bit technologically challenged and cannot figure out how to print on multiple pages, so I printed out about 2-3 letters on each page and then taped them together.
5. After I got the size figured out and printed, I put the whole phrase in the center of the wood and taped the pages down so they wouldn’t move while I did the next few steps. (don't mind my mess, I get a little messy with my projects)
   
6. Then, I flipped the papers over and used a pencil to trace over the outlines of each letter. You really only need to do the outline and not the entire letter, since you'll be going over only the outline.
   
7. Once all letters had been traced, I flipped the paper back over and began tracing over the tops of the letters. Your letters should transfer the pencil onto the board (you can flip back and forth to make sure it’s coming through).
   
   
   
   
8. That’s the easy part- this next step takes a whole lot of patience. I used black acrylic paint to then paint inside the pencil outlines I created. It can get tricky on the smaller areas, make sure you have a very small paint brush. I would also recommend taking your time. Take breaks if needed.
9. Once the black acrylic paint was dry, I fixed any areas that looked off or any black paint that may have gotten on the white.
10. Geoff jumped in and helped with this next part while I worked on another project (we always have a million projects doing at once, please tell me I am not the only one). He measured the verticle edges of the plywood (each side was a little bit off and ended up being a different length), cut the 1x2’s, sanded and stained them. We used Miniwax in Provincial.
11. Once the stain was dry- we used our nail gun to attach the sides to the vertical edges of the sign. 
    
12. Geoff then measured the top and bottom (again, slightly two different lengths) with the new verticle 1x2’s from the previous step attached and cut the horizontal 1x2’s to finish the framing. He’s more of a “measure twice, cut once” type of guy and I am inpatient and usually measure once, cut once and then have to go back and recut, so it’s best he does this part.  He sanded and stained the horizontal pieces and then again attached with the nail gun. We used 1 ¾” nails and they were definitely bigger than they needed to be. We could have probably used 1” nails but we didn’t have any and again, I’m impatient.
    

It’s really that simple. The hardest part is cutting the framing pieces. This project took us a couple weeks due to our work schedules, but you could probably get it done in a day or two. I love the way it turned out and the coziness it gives our bedroom.

Let us see your DIY farmhouse signs- tag us on Facebook or IG and #ourwoodennest.

See you again soon for another cheap, easy DIY.