My living-room was in desperate need of that perfect personal touch and I knew exactly what needed to be done to fix that. Everyone is hyping over the huge pictures that state the obvious these days; your last name and the less obvious, the year that you became a family. But why not, it’s completely adorb!!! Most people spend money for these beautiful signs while others make them. If you need help on how to make this sign for just a few bucks, you’ve come to the right spot!! I will say before going forward, with my particular piece of art, I free handed most of the writing without using stencils and also used a table saw that I already had. You may use stencils if you’re doubting yourself on your handwriting skills and if you do not have a table saw you can ask a Home Depot employee back in the wood department to help you make your cuts; just make sure you tell him where to make the cuts, so have the measurements before hand. You may also use a hand saw, being as how you only need to make few straight cuts, although I don’t recommend this method.

To get started, these are the items that I used for my sign.

• Three planks of 1 X 4 Barn Wood Grey Trim ft boards {Home Depot $8.43 each}
• Two 1 inch depth X 17 inch long, sized pieces of wood (you can find these in the floorboard aisle where there are already small sized pieces of wood-no preference of the type of wood, no one will see this part of your sign) or split the remaining piece of wood left over from your sign and use this piece. {Home Depot}
• 1 and a half inch inch nails {Home Depot}
• Black and white paint (Whatever colors you choose to use) {Home Depot or any craft store, even Target or Walmart sells basic craft paint}
• Small and medium paint brushes {Craft store, Target, WalMart}
• A ruler
• A Chalk
• A hanging wire {Home Depot, Target or WalMart}
• Two 50lb. 1 D Ring Hanger (hooks to hang the sign) {Home Depot}
• A strand of greenery {Hobby Lobby}

Start with the three pieces of planks you chose to make your sign with. I used pre-stained 1X 4 Barn Wood Grey Trim ft boards . You can use wooden planks to your preference, they can already be stained or they can be ready to paint. If you choose wood that is not pre-stained, you will need to paint the wood prior to painting the last name and date of establishment. If you ‘d like, you can also choose to keep the wood unpainted or unstained, it’s really all about preference. The planks are 8 feet long. I cut each plank at 45 inches, this gave me two pieces of wood, one piece measuring at 45 inches long and the other piece measuring at 51 inches long. I did this to all three of my planks. I now have three planks at 45 inches long and three more planks at 51 inches long. (I used all pieces except one 45 inch long one; I went long, short, long, short and then again, long.)

I set my sign up to where it looked staggered in plank sizes. I set it up to where it was long, shorter, long, shorter, and again long. Center the planks where/how you want them to look hanging up. You don’t have to go with the staggered look, you can have them all flesh like a giant rectangle or square. Next you’re going to take those 1 inch depth pieces of wood (that will be hiding behind the picture to hold your planks together) and nail them to the wood that you’re using to display your sign with 1 and a half inch nails. This is how you are going to keep all of your planks together to create your sign. KEEP IN MIND the nails must be long enough to go through the back pieces of the wood and into the planks of your sign, BUT not to long to where the nails will poke through the planks of your sign!!!! If you did not follow my measurements of thickness of the wood, planks, and nails (which is totally okay) just keep in mind that you will need to come up with the measurements that will work for your sign.

At this point we’re faced with where the picture is going to be hung. If you’re painting the sign then this wont be that big of a deal, but if you’re choosing to do what I did and stick with the stained look you’ll need to pre-think for a moment. So my picture is on a wall where we see one side/end and not the other side. You don’t see the other side because its facing another wall and the space between the other wall and the sign is so small that there’s no need for anybody to be on that side of the picture, confusing….I know. Let me show you what I mean…….

I pre-thought about this situation and some how I got so caught up in being on a roll in creating my sign, that I STILL MADE THE MISTAKE of putting the cuts on the wrong end and I don’t want you to make the same mistake. I mean, it’s not a huge deal, but if you can avoid it, do so!! you’ll feel better about it. Prior to painting the sign, face the cuts of the wood all on one side and face those cut ends towards the area where less traffic is, this way less people see the ends that don’t match the rest of your sign.

Now that we got that out of the way, onto painting! This is where you bust out your ruler and piece of chalk out. Face those unpainted ends in the direction you want them placed. Start by outlining and stenciling the large letter in the middle of your sign. ( If you own a Cricut, you can get your stencils from that. It was just easier for me to freehand it.) With the large letter in place, write out your year that you were established, “established in ____”. After you have that placement, stencil or free hand the last name + Family with a piece of chalk over the large letter in the middle. Now work out all of your mistakes prior to painting, then begin painting by outlining your letters and then carefully coloring them in with the paint. Once everything has dried, take a damped wash cloth and remove the chalk, if visible anywhere.

Since it’s now all nice and dry , flip it over and screw the Ring Hangers in on both ends of the upper middle of the sign. Next, tie the wire from ring to ring, make sure that your wire isn’t to long though, you don’t want it to pop up over top of the picture while it’s hanging. Lastly, Hang it and voila!! I placed a pretty greenery on the top of mine for a little more decor. I got my greenery from Hobby Lobby; they have quite a few to choose from, if you’re interested in adding one. Get creative and add anything that you think will add more you to it, or leave it as is; I’m sure it looks beautiful!!! Thanks for reading as always and if you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment or email me 🙂