Happy Tuesday friends! I hope everyone had a good Mother’s Day weekend, I know I did! I feel like it extended into Monday and now I’m a little thrown because I’m playing catch up! Today I’m back to reality, trying to get the unending laundry put away and the pile of dishes to disappear. But I can’t complain about an extra day to relax right?
I wanted to show you all how I made my sign in my kitchen! I love me a good farmhouse sign! White, black and warm wood tones? Yes please! Signs are such a fun way to add personality to your home decor and make a statement about who you are. Let’s face it though, some of the custom signs you see on Etsy can be pretty expensive. They are gorgeous and very good quality so totally worth the expense, but if you are trying to stick to a budget signs can also be an easy DIY.
I made my sign with some leftover plywood, leftover paint, stain and a Sharpie Paint marker. That’s all you need friends! Let me show you what I did step by step!
DIY Farmhouse Sign
The first thing I did was grab a piece of plywood and cut it to the size I wanted my sign. Then I stained the edges of the wood so that it would look like it was framed. If you want to actually frame out your sign you can grab some 1×1’s and stain them instead. You will need to attach them very last, when your sign is finished. I have done it both ways and prefer to frame my signs with 1×1’s but if you’re looking for something quick and easy you can do the faux frame option.
I used Minwax Golden Oak for my stain. It has a nice warm tone that does not turn too orangey. Is that a word? I feel like I make up words a lot when I’m trying to describe things to you all! Oh well…
Once the stain was dry I taped off the edges to create my “frame” and started painting the interior part of the sign in white. I just used some leftover latex eggshell wall paint that we had. It took a couple of coats and I had to sand it a bit once it was dry to help get a smoother finish. It would be better to use a chalk paint for this, but again I was just using the leftovers I had laying around.
When everything was dry I started sketching out the lettering with a pencil. If you are not comfortable with hand lettering there’s an easy way to still get the look. Print your lettering on printer paper, then shade the back with a pencil. Once you’ve placed the words on your board you just outline the letters, this transfers the shading from the back of the page onto your board.
When I was finished sketching out my lettering (which took quite a bit of time to appease my perfectionist heart) I was ready to trace the letters with my paint marker. You could use a paint brush and some paint for this but I was looking for the quick simple solution and decided on the marker instead.
I let the paint dry completely and then gave the whole sign a quick sanding. This helped the lettering look less perfect and more weathered. For a quick DIY that didn’t cost me a thing I was pretty pleased with it! It’s not even close to the quality of sign you would get from a shop on Etsy but it does the trick and gets you a similar look. Let me know if you give it a try or have any other tricks for getting the look of a farmhouse sign without the price tag!
