Not only are theseFarmhouse Christmas Wood Signsgorgeous but also reversible without losing the Rustic look. The perfect touch for your Christmas home decor this year.
Your favorite sentiment stencil. I created mine with a cutting machine.
Instructions
STEP 1: PREP WORK
Firstly and most importantly make sure the plans are right for your local store sizes. Mine are in millimeters so if you need to, use a converter to the metrics you are most familiar with.
My wood sign is in total 900 mm X 600 mm (35,43 In X 23,62 In)
Most likely your local store can cut your wood for you.
So once you have all your supplies ready, clean them up to avoid dust and grease.
Using your favorite wood stain, paint all your backing plywood. I created mine for this specific piece because I found out that the brands I can find here, usually affects the white paint I use on top. So I diluted a brown acrylic paint q part water 1 part paint.
Let it dry.
Take your frame pieces and let’s make it look weathered.
On a plate pour some white and grey paint separately.
STEP 2: START CREATING THE WEATHERED LOOK ON YOUR FRAME BOARDS
Firstly, with grey acrylic paint apply rough and uneven strokes all along the boards. You are going to dry brush on a thin coat of paint.
No perfection here, just create strokes here and there.
When you are done it should look something like this:
Once the paint dries, do exactly the same but with the white paint. In my experience, if your paint is fast drying, by the time you finish the last board, you can start over with the first right away.
Set aside to let them dry very well now.
STEP 3: APPLY THE STENCIL
Take your backing board back and let’s apply the stencils. As I mentioned I created mine mixing script fonts and san-serif fonts to bring that farmhouse look. Because of its size, I had to cut it into different parts and put it together on the board.
I used cheap contact paper for this project because vinyl usually leaves glue behind and I hate it and because I didn’t have any stencil material available and wanted to keep this project on a budget.
Once cut I removed all the contact paper around the design and all the pieces that didn’t belong to the design. Then cut transfer tape and applied it to the stencil with the help of my scraper.
I placed the stencil on my board making sure it was straight and centered. I secured the design using the scraper and removed the transfer tape.
STEP 4: DRY BRUSH PAINT YOUR WOOD SIGN BACKING BOARD.
Once the design was all applied to the board I started painting with white using my dry brushing technique to achieve the distressed wood look.
Apply as many coats as you like. I wanted it really white but still, be able to see imperfections from the background color.
Let it dry very well.
STEP 5: SAND OFF THE PAINT FROM YOUR FRAME BOARDS
Now that your frame pieces are dry, you are going to sand them with your 150 grit sandpaper.
Sand it like you want to remove all that paint. When you are done the boards should look like the remaining paint is all damaged.
STEP 6: STAIN YOUR FRAME BOARD PIECES
Clean your boards well to remove all the dust from sanding.
Time to stain your pieces. Apply your wood stain and then rub it with a piece of cloth.
Let them dry.
STEP 7: REMOVE THE STENCIL.
So, now, let’s work on our backing board. With the help of a hook, peel off all the stencil pieces. Be careful so you don’t damage or scratch the wood.
Once your design is revealed again, and sand it very well and distress some places as you see fit.
Clean your board well and set it aside.
STEP 8: ASSEMBLE THE FRAME.
Lay down your pieces to form the shape of your frame. Longer boards should go top and bottom and the shorter ones should go left and right.
Longer boards should go over the end of the shorter ones as shown below.
To make it easier to screw the frame together (I don’t have a nail gun so I went for screws) I drilled 2 holes on each end of the long pieces to mark the path of the screw. Use a drill tip smaller than the screw you are going to use.
Apply some glue and screw your pieces together.
Set aside and let the glue dry for a while.
When it’s dry you need to create the back frame that will house your wood sign.
For this, you will set your wood sticks the same way as your mainframe but this time you will just glue and nail them in place.
Align your frame pieces with the outer edge of the mainframe. Apply wood and use clamps to secure your pieces in place.
Once dry, nail it on a few spots just to double-secure it.
Your frame is done!
Now to keep your wood sign in place, you can use L-shaped Hook Screws if you are on a budget.
Just drill carefully some holes to mark the path of your hooks on at least 3 spots on the long sides and 2 on the short ones.
Then screw your hooks in place all the way down!
STEP 9: ASSEMBLE THE RUSTIC WOOD SIGN
It’s time to fit your gorgeous wood sign in.
Place your wood sign facing down.
Turn all your hooks over the board to secure them. If they are a bit lose, just cut small pieces of felt and put them between the board and the hook so your board doesn’t get scratched.
Your Rustic Oversized Reversible Farmhouse Christmas Wood Signs are all ready to rock!