Farmhouse Fall Blocks

Build It Thrifty
by Build It Thrifty
4 Materials
$5
3 Hours
Easy

I'm constantly looking for ways to use up the abundance of scrap wood laying around my shop. There are always a million little ends of cut-off boards that I can't bring myself to throw away! With cooler weather just around the corner, these blocks are a great way to re-purpose scrap wood and add to your Fall decor. Here's what you need.


Materials:
  • 2×4, 2×8, and 2×10 (scrap pieces, must be 2x thickness to stand on their own)
  • Stain
  • Chalk paint
  • Craft paint

Cut List:

You can use whatever sizes you have on hand but these are the dimensions I used.

  • 1-2×4@5
  • 1-2×4@9
  • 2-2×4@9.5
  • 1-2×8@7
  • 1-2×10@6.5


Stain all of your blocks. I used Dark Walnut by Rust-Oleum. After your stain is dry, paint the face of each block using chalk paint or craft paint in a white or cream. I dry brushed three coats of the paint so it would have a distressed look.

I free-handed the lettering on the blocks which took several attempts. Thank goodness for erasable chalk pencils! It’s a little hard to see on the cream paint but it’s just enough to guide you for the letter placement. If you don’t want to do it this way, you could use graphite transfer paper.

I wanted to add a little color to one of the blocks so I went with this pumpkin. Drawing a pumpkin is pretty simple. If you can draw an oval then you got this. Draw your center oval then draw half ovals coming out each side. Then, just draw a stem and a little curly vine. Again, if you don’t want to do it this way you could use transfer paper or a pumpkin stencil.

Here are the craft paint colors I used for the pumpkin.

After all the detail painting is finished, go back and sand everything by hand to give it a worn look. Sealing the blocks is optional, I didn't use anything on mine. Make as many as you want! You are really only limited by the amount of words you can think of to describe Fall. These would be great with Christmas words as well!

Resources for this project:
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Frequently asked questions
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  2 questions
  • Kiply Prescott Clair Kiply Prescott Clair on Sep 01, 2020

    perfect!

    Love kitty, too!!

    Oh, and what is "errthang"? Is that southern slang for "everything"? :)

  • Margaret S. Margaret S. on Sep 25, 2020

    When drawing your letters, is the chalk pencil permanent?

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  • KateyV KateyV on Sep 10, 2020

    Never heard that word before, lol.

    Also, I've never heard of these erasable chalk pencils until this article.

    I will try them instead of graphite paper. Thanks for the info!

  • Linda Abate Linda Abate on Sep 02, 2021

    Great way to dress up a fireplace mantle, buffet or kitchen counter. You can also make these with Christmas sayings or Easter sayings to brighten up the other holidays we celebrate. Cute idea.

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