Making A Chippy Farmhouse Sign (From Reclaimed Wood)

I LOVE chippy signs.

They are so fresh and fun, and I can't get enough of them.

I have this big ol' metal canister chock full of chippy white wood planks. And now I finally have a purpose for them!

I picked out my favorite one and got to work!

First, I decided on my design and found my stencils.

Then I laid them out in the order and space they needed to be.

Once I had all of the letters laid out, I set out the rest of my supplies.

It only takes a couple of things to make these signs. One is a VERY insignificant amount of paint, and the other is a paintbrush (aside from the stencils).

I get my lettering brushes at Harbor Freight. They are chip brushes and are less than a dollar each, but hold up quite well. I like to wear them down until the brushes are very short, because they work really well for lettering.

I dipped the brush into the paint, and used the paint can lid to brush off as much of the paint as possible. I have found that brushing with as little paint as possible prevents dripping under the stencils. It is much better to have to do two or three coats, than to have to redo a whole sign because of paint drippage!

 

I also decided to add a little star decor at the end, and for that, I used a smaller little chip brush, but used the same idea. Less paint is more when it comes to lettering! Do it in coats! I promise it works out MUCH MUCH better!

When that was finished, I gently peeled off the stencils, and before the paint was totally dry, I lightly sanded over the letters.

Then I took a step back and checked to see how it looked. Turned out pretty well I think!

Now it was time to add a hanger to it. Let me just say, I HATE typical hangers. I LOATHE them! They are tiny and awkward and I always end up hammering my finger when trying to get those tiny nails into them. Screw that! Hahaha. Also, they are expensive and I am cheap, so yeah. I make my own!

A while back I got a 100 pack of these metal roof ties at Home Depot for like 10 bucks, and they are bendable and awesome.

All you need to make your own super heavy duty hanger is one of these bad boys and two screws.

This did not take much effort to bend, but is REALLY sturdy.

So after bending, I screwed it in and voila! I had myself a cute chippy sign!

There it is hanging on my kitchen wall!

I look forward to making many more and hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

• The Wheatcrafter