DIY Farmhouse Welcome Sign

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Farmhouse style is very popular nowadays. Can you say “Fixer Upper”? That popular TV show may have made the style more mainstream! I have been incorporating some farmhouse elements into my home for a while now… like this vase and this shelf and this wreath.

If you like farmhouse style, you will love this welcome sign. It actually reads “HELLO”, but it functions as any other welcome sign. I love that it has a distressed, weathered finish – you won’t believe how easy it was to achieve that look (keep reading for all the details!)

DIY Farmhouse Welcome Sign

So here’s the piece I picked up from the junk store. It was only a few bucks and I loved the size & shape of the piece of wood. The front of the wood had some writing on it, along with pink glitter.

Rather than sanding off the glitter, I just turned the piece around. Here’s what the back looked like. I simply pried off that sawtooth hanger and hammered it onto the other side.

The first step is to paint the piece. I chose a pale blue/green color – it’s this color. It’s actually the same matte color we painted our dining room table (see more of that transformation here). I love this color.

Next it was time to transfer some letters onto the wood. I used the same method that worked well on canvas (check out this post here). So I printed out large sizes of the letters I wanted (‘hello’). Download the files I used if you want to make a sign just like this one – click here & here!
*TIP: I only printed the outline of the letters to save on ink!!

To transfer the letters, start by cutting the paper out around each of the letters. Turn the paper over and shade in along the outline of the letter.

Next place the paper printed-side-up on the board – in the position you want it placed – and use a sharp pencil to outline the letter. What happens is the shading on the back of the paper will transfer the outline to the wood as you trace the outline.

See the outline… it’s faint, but it’s there!

Once you’ve finished transferring all the letters, use some complementary paint to fill in the letters. Take your time here and use a fine paint brush to make it look neat. But don’t worry about perfection either!

Finally, I like the look of the board as it is at this point, but I decided to add a little weathering effect to it. I grabbed a soft black wax – I used it in my dining table project, too. Simply use a paper towel to spread some on the board in a random fashion.

See the finished product? I love the lightly weathered, distressed finish.

I haven’t decided where I will keep this baby. I like the idea of placing it on my porch actually!

Want more DIY inspiration? Check out these favorite posts. Simply click on the picture to be taken to the post!

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