How To: Simple DIY Handpainted Farmhouse Signs!

I'm really excited to share with you all my latest project. And let me tell you this was SO easy and affordable. Let me start off by saying, I made these two hand painted signs (and I have more wood to use to make more) for about $30. That's right, only $30. If you know anything about wall art, that's the price you'd pay for one wall sign, maybe even more for a larger one. The two that I have made so far are on a larger scale so to buy something like this I may have spend upwards of $75! That's not the only crazy thing, with all the supplies I purchased, I'm now set up to make endless signs for about $10! All I'd have to do now, is purchase more wood planks. And like I said before, buying and needing to cut the wood made it so I have more blank canvases to make even MORE signs for no cost! So let's get into it... here's what you need and where to get it!

You will need:

1. Wood planks- Home Depot. We bought two 6 foot planks and had them cut to the size we wanted, which is free for two cuts! There's a ton of varieties and cheap prices to choose from. Each plank we went with cost only $5!
2. Sawtooth hanging hardware- Home Depot for about $3 a pack, to put on the back of each sign to be able to hang them when finished!
3. Sanding block- $3 at Walmart paint supplies section, to smooth some rough edges and also to rough up for some distressing!
4. Paint brushes: $2 at Walmart craft section.
5. Chalk paint- Walmart craft section $6 to paint the base of your plank.
6. Stencils- $4 at Walmart craft section, you can choose out of so many types, shapes, and sizes!
7. Pencil to trace out the stencil.
8. Paint pen- $2 Walmart craft section to paint in over your tracing.

All these supplies may cost a teeny bit up front, about $30 give or take, but still not as much as actually going out and buying your wall sign! AND remember, most of these supplies are now re-usable to make more signs for no cost but a piece of wood! In the end, you save so much money! 

Now for the fun part, the process! First, we went to heaven, aka Home Depot! We headed straight for the lumber section to pick out some wood. 

Once we found it we headed over to have it cut to the measurements we desired. And not to be overly repetitive, but having it cut doubles and doubles and doubles the amount of wood slabs you end up taking home. So technically with $30 total, I'm able to make FOUR hand painted signs out of 2 6 foot wood planks. The ones I've made to show here are 35 inches long, and 50 inches long. Those make for some pretty large signs that would be a pretty penny elsewhere!

Then after grabbing the hanging hardware we headed to Walmart to gather the rest of the supplies before heading back home to get started! 

Once we were home I enlisted the help of my husband in sanding down the edges and painting one of the signs while I did the other one. We did loose strokes, allowing some of the natural wood to peek through for an old farmhouse feel. This only took one coat each, leaving us so much chalk paint left for future projects! Another good thing is that chalk paint dries almost instantly, so we immediately began banging around on the empty signs with the ends of our paint brushes and using the sanding block on some areas to give an even more distressed feel. 

After this, I simply laid out the stencils to an alignment I was happy with and traced in with a pencil. I then just went over the pencil with my paint pen and voila, my signs were complete! For my farmers market sign, I did add some straight line accents, which was easy peasy just by using a straight edge of my stencil! And here's a tip, don't stress out if there's small imperfections. I think it actually adds rustic charm and gives it that old sweet look. And if you mess up really bad, just paint over it and try again! Trial and error I always say!

The final step was to just put on the hanging hardware, which was so easy! I got a very easy kind. I didn't want to screw it on, so I bought a type where it just hammers straight into the wood on the back, and they're strong too! 

Lastly, I stepped back and admired our hard work, already thinking about what other signs I could make!! 

Guys, if this doesn't sound incredibly easy, I don't know what does! You don't have to have gorgeous handwriting, or a ton of hardware skills for this. Me and my husband are complete novices when it comes to handy work, so that says a lot. The last thing I'll mention is that this is a great project to do if you have a specific or personal quote you'd like to use that you may not even find in a store! 

Any-who, I hope this helps for anyone who loves farmhouse signs, but doesn't love the cost! I hope everyone has a fabulous week!