DIY Inspirational Farmhouse Wood Signs
Let’s Learn how to make These pretty, bright, and inspirational DIY Farmhouse Wood Signs with a cutting machine and some really cool lettering fonts! Here’s how.
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You know how crazy life can get, right? You probably know the feeling of life stress, work, kids, housework, etc, etc, etc.
DIY Inspirational Farmhouse Wood Signs
So, when things get so overwhelming we tend to let that take over our emotions and we forget that we are only humans and can do so much.
I’m the first one who is constantly pushing myself to the edge to accomplish an endless list of things and when I can’t, I forget that there are more important things than only work. Like to be happy, which means to enjoy more and worry less.
You may think, that’s easier said than done. IT’S TRUE. I struggle with this every day but it’s also true we should try harder not to be so self-demanding.
Because I know myself and I tend to forget that I wanted to have a reminder really close, to be happy. Because as hard as things can get we can still be happy and thankful for just being alive and having the family we have.
I easily get so frustrated and overwhelmed that when I see myself in the mirror, I don’t see a hint of joy in my eyes. It’s my own personal work in progress: BE HAPPY despite anything else.
While working on our Master Bedroom decor, I noticed that I had a section of a wall next to the window and right next to our bed that would be the perfect spot for wall art.
I particularly love wood signs and triptychs so, why not join the two ideas in one? FontBundles offered their project for any project I wanted and I knew right away it would be so perfect for some pretty inspirational farmhouse signs project.
They both (FontBundles and DesignsBundles) have awesome fonts and incredible amazing bundles packed with printables, SVG files, gorgeous designs, and more. I’ve used their products for over a year and I absolutely love them. Needless to say, this offer came at the perfect moment.
How to make these Inspirational Farmhouse Wood signs
Firstly, you need to choose your perfect bundle or fonts. I used fonts from Font Bundles because I fell in love with the mostly sunshine font, they included in one of their bundles and also a couple of designs I knew I would use soon.
Download the font files to your computer and then install your chosen fonts. Open your cutting machine software and design your quote, I chose “Today I Choose to Be Happy”, so I read it every morning when I wake up. For this, I used Mostly Sunshine for Duo from that bundle.
Once ready, let’s get crafty!!!
Supplies:
- Vinyl
- Transfer Tape
- Scrapper (credit card will do too)
- 1/8″ plywood (size of your choice)
- 6 – 1×2 @ Same height as your plywood (side frame pieces)
- 6 – 1×2 @ Width of your Plywood minus thickness of your 2 side pieces (top frame pieces)
- White acrylic paint
- Grey acrylic paint
- Brushes
- Wood stain (I used walnut)
- Piece of cloth
- Sandpaper (I used 150-grit)
- Wood glue
- Finishing nails (3d) for the sides
- Finishing nails for the back (about 1” long)
Tools:
- Cutting machine and Mat – Silhouette Cameo or Cricut
- Weeding tool
- Hammer
- Clamps
Instructions:
Step 1: Preparing the Stencils
First of all, prepare your design in your cutting machine software. In my case, I used silhouette studio. I mixed script font and San-serif font to create a pretty design.
Step 2: Cut your design
Cut your stencils with your cutting machine following the appropriate settings for your material and making sure the sizes will fit inside the frames. I used pieces of Vinyl I already had. Use your stencil material if you already have them.
Step 3: Weed out unnecessary vinyl
Once cut, use the weeding tool (the hook) to remove all the surroundings and any unnecessary pieces of vinyl.
You should get 3 vinyl decals like these:
Step 4: Apply Transfer Tape
Then cut a piece of transfer tape and place it over one of the stencil pieces. Use the scraper to make sure the vinyl sticks well and cut each stencil to be ready to transfer.
Set shtencils aside.
Step 5: Preparing the Wood for our Diy Farmhouse Wood Signs
Firstly, sand each piece especially on the edges to get rid of imperfections, especially splinters.
Then regardless of what wood you will use, it’s always important to clean it off prior to painting. This will not only get rid of any loose dirt and splinters but will also provide a smoother surface to work with. All you need to do is clean it off with a brush, cloth, and sometimes even with a damp paper towel works perfectly.
Step 6: Paint Frame Wood slats
Using a brush, dip the tips and apply rough strokes on the frame pieces. Forget about perfection. Just give each piece some harsh strokes. This is only to give the wood that weathered, aged look, so the more imperfect the better.
I started with white paint. Apply on all sides. Let it dry for a few minutes
Then Apply grey paint the same way and let it dry for a few hours. It’s important that the paint is really dry.
Once it’s dry, sand it well until the paint is barely kind of stains on the wood.
Clean each piece well.
Step 7: Stain Frame Wood slats
Then it’s time to stain. I used a piece of cloth, dipped a small section, and then rub it along the wood. I like to damp the wood first and then remove the excess with another clean piece of cloth. You can repeat this step until you get the color you like.
Let them for a few hours.
Use a sealer or varnish to protect each piece. Let them dry for a few more hours or overnight.
Step 8: Paint sign pieces:
Dilute your acrylic paint 50/50 with water and then paint your wood. Again, no need for perfection since you will be painting again over it with white. This will give the dark look to your lettering.
Let them dry well and give them a sanding.
Clean the surface and give another paint coat. Again, give a good sanding and clean them well.
Step 9: Stencil the Rustic Wood Signs
Decide where your lettering will be and then peel the transfer tape off, making sure that the vinyl accompanies it.
Place the transfer tape on the painted wood. I choose to place mine on the bottom center of the piece keeping in mind where the frame would be.
Use the scraper to firmly adhere the vinyl. If I’m not using stencil material (like in this case) I first stick it to a piece of fabric so it loses slightly the adherence, otherwise, when I remove peel it off it will leave some sticky things behind. We don’t want that.
Carefully peel the transfer tape off, leaving only the vinyl on the wood.
Step 10: Dry Brush the DIY farmhouse signs
I used the dry brush technique for this step because I wanted to get a more rustic imperfect effect on the wood.
If you are not familiar with that technique, first put some paint on a paper plate and spread it out kinda thin, then take a dry brush and just get a tiny bit of paint on the end of the bristles.
Then just brush this along the wood and re-dip in the paint as necessary, but don’t get carried away because you want your brush to remain almost dry.
Repeat as many times as you need until you get the look you like. In my case, I wanted it almost white but still being able to see the wood imperfections.
Repeat on the other pieces. Let the wood signs dry completely for a few hours.
Then peel off carefully your stencil pieces. If you’re having a hard time pulling up small pieces of the vinyl use the hook tool for removing vinyl. Still, be careful not to damage the wood.
Then give it a sanding to smooth the surface and clean it well.
Step 11: frame your pretty Farmhouse Wood Signs
To make sure the frame would be strong enough to handle the curvy shape of the painted plywood, I first built each frame before attaching it to the wood signs.
Place the pieces on the wood sign and then apply wood glue.
With the help of clamps attach each corner of your frame.
Nail each corner together and move on to the next frame.
Then place your wood sign upside-down on the frame matching side edges well and nail it to the frame.
Repeat with the other frames.
Lastly, install picture hangers on the back. I like these picture framing sawtooth hangers because they give you margins of error.
You are all done. Just hang them and make your space extra pretty and special.
Don’t you love how these Farmhouse Wood Signs turned out?
Now every morning I look at it and remember that happiness is a choice and that I always should choose to be happy.
Crafting Tips
If you cut the stencil with a cutting machine, remember to remove the excess vinyl and transfer your design. Once you’ve cut the vinyl, you’ll want to “weed” the design with your weeding tool, which means removing the negative space to reveal only your letters.
Don’t forget those small spaces inside the letters, especially when working with script fonts. After your design is ready to go, you’ll use transfer tape to “pick up” the letters from the carrier sheet and then place them on your sign.
If you don’t have a cutting machine, you can still make this project using the pencil transfer method or use a sheet of carbon paper.
Print your design on computer paper. Turn the paper over, and scribble pencil marks over the areas where the text is printed. Place the paper on your surface (design facing up) and trace an outline of the printed letters with a pen.
The pencil on the other side will make faint marks on your wood. Remove the paper and fill in the traced letters with a permanent marker, Chalk paint marker, or black paint.
Also alternatively, you can order a custom vinyl decal on Etsy! There are hundreds of shops on Etsy that will print or cut the design of your dreams for you, in the exact size you like.
You can also buy stains from the home improvement store, and keep your eyes on the clearance section. Often you can find takebacks for a fraction of the original price.
You can use reclaimed wood to make this wood sign, wood scraps from a construction site, or even re-do a wood sign from a thrift store.
What do you think?
Frequently Asked Questions
I have good news! You can order a custom vinyl decal on Etsy! There are hundreds of shops on Etsy that will print or cut the design of your dreams for you, in the exact size you like.
It is also a good idea to search according to what you are looking for. For instance, if you are looking for a mountain design, search for “farmhouse vinyl decal.” If the seller does not have the size, you need listed, ask if they can make it just for you. There is a good chance they will.
Alternatively, you can join Facebook groups like Cricut for Dummies or Silhouette Design Inspiration. Other members may be willing to work with you on cutting something.
Another option is to use the carbon paper method where you transfer manually the design to the wood sign after you dry brush and paint the letters.
It doesn’t really matter which type of wood you select – pine is fine, and it’s inexpensive. You can go to a home improvement store like Home Depot and choose a new wood base. They will even cut it for you. Also, check out thrift stores to see if you can find a sign that you can re-do. Ask if you can have scrap lumbers at a construction site and lastly look on sites like Freecycle or Craiglist – sometimes people are giving away lumber for free in your area.
If you want the background of your sign to be completely white, Yes, make sure to use this stain-blocking primer on wood before painting. Otherwise, any knots (or random spots) on the plywood will turn the paint into a brownish/yellowish tint over time. But if want a more rustic farmhouse look, you don’t need to use primer, it will definitely end up with more of a farmhouse rustic feel.
You can show off this gorgeous custom wood sign as part of your home decor in your, bedroom, bathroom, living room, office room, or in entryway. Depending on the sentiment you use, you can even put it above your bed in a horizontal display.
More Decorative Woodworking Ideas to Try
If you enjoy this Farmhouse Wood Signs tutorial, you might also love these other Woodworking project ideas too:
✂️ Tutorial
DIY Inspirational Farmhouse Wood Signs
Equipment
- Cutting machine and Mat – Silhouette Cameo or Cricut
- Weeding tool
- Hammer
- Clamps
- scissors
Ingredients
- Vinyl
- Transfer Tape
- Scrapper credit card will do too
- 1/8 ″ plywood size of your choice
- 6 – 1×2 @ Same height as your plywood side frame pieces
- 6 – 1×2 @ Width of your Plywood minus thickness of your 2 side pieces top frame pieces
- White acrylic paint
- Grey acrylic paint
- Brushes
- Wood stain I used walnut
- Piece of cloth
- Sandpaper I used 150-grit
- Wood glue
- Finishing nails 3d for the sides
- Finishing nails for the back about 1” long
Instructions
STEP 1: PREPARING THE STENCILS
- First of all, prepare your design in your cutting machine software. In my case, I used silhouette studio. I mixed script font and San-serif font to create a pretty design.
STEP 2: CUT YOUR DESIGN
- Cut your stencils with your cutting machine following the appropriate settings for your material and making sure the sizes will fit inside the frames. I used pieces of Vinyl I already had. Use your stencil material if you already have them.
STEP 3: WEED OUT UNNECESSARY VINYL
- Once cut, use the weeding tool (the hook) to remove all the surroundings and any unnecessary pieces of vinyl.
STEP 4: APPLY TRANSFER TAPE
- Then cut a piece of transfer tape and place it over one of the stencil pieces. Use the scraper to make sure the vinyl sticks well and cut each stencil to be ready to transfer.
- Set shtencils aside.
STEP 5: PREPARING THE WOOD FOR OUR DIY FARMHOUSE WOOD SIGNS
- Firstly, sand each piece especially on the edges to get rid of imperfections, especially splinters.
- Then regardless of what wood you will use, it’s always important to clean it off prior to painting. This will not only get rid of any loose dirt and splinters but will also provide a smoother surface to work with. All you need to do is clean it off with a brush, cloth, and sometimes even with a damp paper towel works perfectly.
STEP 6: PAINT FRAME WOOD SLATS
- Using a brush, dip the tips and apply rough strokes on the frame pieces. Forget about perfection. Just give each piece some harsh strokes. This is only to give the wood that weathered, aged look, so the more imperfect the better.
- I started with white paint. Apply on all sides. Let it dry for a few minutes
- Then Apply grey paint the same way and let it dry for a few hours. It’s important that the paint is really dry.
- Once it’s dry, sand it well until the paint is barely kind of stains on the wood.
- Clean each piece well.
STEP 7: STAIN FRAME WOOD SLATS
- Then it’s time to stain. I used a piece of cloth, dipped a small section, and then rub it along the wood. I like to damp the wood first and then remove the excess with another clean piece of cloth. You can repeat this step until you get the color you like.
- Let them dy for a few hours.
- Use a sealer or varnish to protect each piece. Let them dry for a few more hours or overnight.
STEP 8: PAINT SIGN PIECES
- Dilute your acrylic paint 50/50 with water and then paint your wood. Again no need for perfection since you will be painting again over it with white. This will give the dark look to your lettering.
- Let them dry well and give them a sanding.
- Clean the surface and give another paint coat. Again Give a good sanding and clean them well.
STEP 9: STENCIL THE RUSTIC WOOD SIGNS
- Decide where your lettering will be and then peel the transfer tape off, making sure that the vinyl accompanies it.
- Place the transfer tape on the painted wood. I choose to place mine on the bottom center of the piece keeping in mind where the frame would be.
- Use the scraper to firmly adhere the vinyl. If I’m not using stencil material (like in this case) I first stick it to a piece of fabric so it loses slightly the adherence, otherwise, when I remove peel it off it will leave some sticky things behind. We don’t want that.
- Carefully peel the transfer tape off, leaving only the vinyl on the wood.
STEP 10: DRY BRUSH THE DIY FARMHOUSE SIGNS
- I used the dry brush technique for this step because I wanted to get a more rustic imperfect effect on the wood.
- If you are not familiar with that technique, first put some paint on a paper plate and spread it out kinda thin, then take a dry brush and just get a tiny bit of paint on the end of the bristles.
- Then just brush this along the wood and re-dip in the paint as necessary, but don’t get carried away because you want your brush to remain almost dry.
- Repeat as many times as you need until you get the look you like. In my case, I wanted it almost white but still being able to see the wood imperfections.
- Repeat on the other pieces. Let the wood signs dry completely for a few hours.
- Then peel off carefully your stencil pieces. If you’re having a hard time pulling up small pieces of the vinyl use the hook tool for removing vinyl. Still, be careful not to damage the wood.
- Then give it a sanding to smooth the surface and clean it well.
STEP 11: FRAME YOUR PRETTY FARMHOUSE WOOD SIGNS
- To make sure the frame would be strong enough to handle the curvy shape of the painted plywood, I first built each frame before attaching it to the wood signs.
- Place the pieces on the wood sign and then apply wood glue.
- With the help of clamps attach each corner of your frame.
- Nail each corner together and move on to the next frame.
- Then place your wood sign upside-down on the frame matching sideedges well and nail it to the frame.
- Repeat with the other frames.
- Lastly, install picture hangers on the back. I like these picture framing sawtooth hangers because they give you margins of error.
- You are all done. Just hang them and make your space extra pretty and special.
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Love these!! Thank you for the tutorial! I had no idea how much work was involved in making these. So maybe I should pay you to make what I need ha! ha! Seriously I definitely need the dummy version 🤣
Thank you so much, Nancy! LOL. It’s not hard really if you have the tools that is. If we lived close I would be happy to help! This type of crats is so therapeutic!
Best of luck and hugs,
Cami
I feel you when it comes to letting work overwhelm you; I am just like that and this post is really timely. I decided to make conscious effort to enjoy everyday three days ago.
I wish I could be handy with wood, I would like to learn though. It would be fun and therapeutic.
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much for your kind words. YES, learning to be happy with what you already have is an awesome practice and it also makes you open to receiving more in life. You don’t need to be handy with wood to have something like this, you can just write it down with pretty fonts and your favorite colors, print it out and frame it. Hang it where you can see it every day! however, if you love the wood style you can go to a hardware store and get the pieces cut for you and get some stencils and paint it however you like. This is the best part of handcrafts, it doesn’t have to be perfect! Crafting is so therapeutic, even when it fails, trust me, I have lots of fail crafts and I still somehow love them LOL.
Sending hugs and love your way!
Awwn… thank you for the suggestions. Yea craft is?
I’m on a very fixed income but will be trying this . Is there a pattern for the afghan on the bed ?
Hi Daisy,
What do you mean about the afghan? Sorry if that’s a dumb question, I’m truly not sure what you mean.
Hugs
She means your quilt. It’s lovely.
Oooh Thank you!!! I didn’t really know you could call it that too. Thank you so much!
Hugs
Daisy, Now I got it LOL. That is a duvet cover and I bought it. BUT if you are interested in making one it’s not that hard to make them if you have a sewing machine. I have a tutorial for a single duvet cover here on the blog and on Pinterest, you can find so many great tutorials.
Thank you again!
Hugs
These are just lovely and what a great sentiment to wake up to too. Love them :-)
Thank you, Julie! I truly love how they turned out! Love looking at them every morning!
XOXO
Cami