DIY Your Own Farmhouse Signs the Easy Way

6 Materials
$20
2 Hours
Medium

I love the look of Farmhouse signs to brighten up a living space and there are so many beautiful words you can use to fit your home decor or style! In today's tutorial, I use some Essential Stencils to create these easy DIY signs for you to try yourself!

I used a couple of Essential Stencil's Farmhouse sign sets to create my signs (use my ambassador code IRESTORESTUFF to save 10% on their site). Perfecting the technique of stenciling takes practice, but once you get the hang of it, you'll LOVE all the possibilities for adding stencils to your home on furniture, signs, cushions, decor and more!

Step One:

I used ordinary plywood for my sign boards. The ply is about 1.5-2cm thick and I cut the signs approx 45cm x 19.5cm to fit the stencils nicely.

Step Two:

I used two coats of Fusion Mineral Paint white called Picket Fence to lay down a white base.

Step Three:

Using painter’s tape, secure your stencil down both sides of the stencil. You can add additional tape top and bottom if you think it needs, but you really only need a little to keep the stencil in place while you work. Note: I also placed tape where the letter ends come quite close to the edge of the stencil, just in case my brushing runs over the edge, I don't want to get paint over the edge.

Step Four:

Stenciling: I have a number of stenciling tutorials that I have written along with video tutorials on my best stenciling tips, and I do find the best explanation is to show you visually, so you can scroll down to the video in this post, where I’ll show you the full demo of the making of these Farmhouse signs (including the wood trim finish around the edges).

Two keys to good stenciling include:

  1. having a very dry brush – dip it, wipe it on the edge of container, then wipe it off on newspaper or cardboard until very little remains on brush
  2. swirling versus stippling – each person has their own preference, but I tend to use swirling for a better coverage and quicker application (see this in the video)

Step Five:

Wood Trim for Sign

Once the farmhouse signs were stencilled, I added the wood trim.

I started with a length of Tasmanian Oak sourced from my local Bunnings hardware store here in Australia. You can use any oak, and depending on your personal taste, you can choose a totally different width trim than I did, but my Tassie Oak trim was 3cm x 1cm.

I measured the width of the sign board and cut two exactly the size of the width. These will be the short edges.

Then I cut two long edges adding the 1 cm to each end (to account for width of the trim), to make sure they were going to sit flush at the edge as shown in my video in this post and in the finished picture above.

Step Six:

I stained each of the lengths of trim using Fusion’s Stain & Finishing Oil in the colour, Cappuccino.

It was my birthday last month, and hands up if you’re a gal who has power tools on your wish list too??

My beautiful family got me the Ryobi One cordless Airstrike Brad Nailer!! You can also just use a hammer and some small tack nails, but please be careful! Nail your boards together at each end and a couple nails along the sides.

The second set of Farmhouse Sign stencils I had from Essential Stencil were these words: WELCOME, FARMHOUSE, GATHER. Perfect for an entryway, dining room, kitchen, living room, mantle – you name it – wherever your people gather! I think they’re adorable!

For all the visual learners - here's a video I made showing you my stenciling tips and how I created the signs. Don't forget to use my code IRESTORESTUFF and save 10% at essentialstencil com

Resources for this project:
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  2 questions
  • Blu99 Blu99 on Jan 11, 2020

    I love the signs! Which Aristotle brad nailer did you get? I love crafting so this might be a plus for me!l

  • Laetitia Ranum Laetitia Ranum on Jan 11, 2020

    Can stenciling be done on rougher boards? I have some old fence boards and old pallets I’d like to make use of.

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