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The Frugal Homemaker

Your guide to turning your house into a home... one DIY project and yard sale find at a time

Rustic JOY Christmas Sign (Behr Holiday Hues)

November 17, 2014

I am so excited to join with the Behr DIY Expert team and fellow bloggers to bring you Behr Holiday Hues!  We are sharing 12 festive projects for a colorful holiday season and giving away something fun to TWO of our readers.  

HolidayHuesLogo_WithHeadshots_FINAL (1)

I created a rustic planked wood JOY sign for my front porch with Behr paint (and stain) of course!

Rustic Wood JOY sign

Oh, I am so in love with how this turned out!  I have had a JOY sign like this pinned on Pinterest for some time and I am glad I finally got a chance to recreate my own.  And now I have the “I want to build everything” bug too.  Another sign for indoors is definitely on my to-do list this Christmas too. 

So let me show you how… and before you think, I can’t build anything, this was EASY.  And cheap!

Here’s what you will need:

  • (3) 1 inch x 5 inch x 4 feet boards from Home Depot – $1.25 each (or you could use scrap wood or old pallet wood)
  • scrap wood or a 1 inch  x 1 inch board for back support pieces
  • screws
  • dark stain
  • white paint
  • red paint (I used Behr California Poppy)
  • sandpaper

I picked up my boards at Home Depot and then conveniently stopped by the paint counter and got my paint too.  Make sure to get straight, not splintered boards.

1x5 boards

I used my boards in the exact size they were so my sign is roughly 15 inches wide and 4 feet high.  Just measure and cut a piece of scrap wood to fit across all 3 boards.  I used my Ryobi drill to screw it all together.

building planked sign

Here’s what the back will look like.  If you wish you can put a 3rd support piece in the middle in the back.  I am hoping to paint another sign on the back of this sign so I tried to avoid using another support piece on the back.

back of planked sign

Now you will want to stain your wood.  You can also bang it up a bit now too if you are really going for the old, rustic look.   You will want your wood stained so that when you sand down the white you are going to paint on top you see nice dark wood, not white/new wood. 

stained wood plank sign

Let dry.  Then apply white paint.  I didn’t go for a perfect, painted finish on this – I wanted a slapped on/old/worn look. 

painted white planked wood sign

Now draw out your letters.  I didn’t have a stencil or way to make one so I just drew my letters out roughly by hand.   Measure your board and divide in 3 and then sketch your letters.  Once again I was going for the “rustic, old piece of wood pulled out of an old barn and hand painted sign” look so everything being perfect wasn’t important. 

DSC_0464-001

Now it’s time to paint the letters on.  You could do any message that you choose – Merry Christmas, Noel, Christmas – whatever you want to do.

Behr California Poppy red

Here it is after painting but you have one more step – distress.  Sand all over the whole piece focusing on corners and edges as much or as little as you wish.  This made a HUGE difference.  I was really not liking it at all after it was just painted – it just looked simple and very imperfect.  BUT after distressing it has character and all the imperfections just sort of blend in more. 

planked wood JOY sign before sanding

See … so much better!

JOY sign out front door

I had fun doing some early decorating on my front porch.  My neighbors are probably ready to throw their rotten pumpkins at me but that’s ok.  Winking smile  I am determined to not be stressed this year and having the decorating done early is going to help SOOO much!

Christmas front porch

A simple little tree tucked in an apple basket, a yard sale find sled, my red stool, and yard sale lanterns look so pretty on my porch!  I am having so much fun having lots of RED out here since I finally have black shutters/door. 

Christmas front porch with JOY sign

I am just imagining signs I can make for every season! Smile  Oh by the way, I have a cup hook screwed in between 2 pieces of vinyl siding into the house on this wall.  I just hung the sign on the hook by the wood support piece that is on the back. 

JOY sign on porch

And just because I always want to see a night shot when Christmas lights/candlelight are involved, here is a dusk shot for you.  LOVE!

JOY sign on Christmas porch

So… if this wasn’t enough to get you inspired check out these 11 other projects (links below).  Seriously, I want to do them ALL!

Behr Holiday Hues Project Option 1

1.  All Things Heart and Home     2.  Clean and Scentsible     3.  The DIY Dreamer   

4.  The Frugal Homemaker     5.  Frugal Mom Eh      6.  Just a Girl and Her Blog     

7.  Liz Marie Blog     8.  Marty’s Musings     9.  NewlyWoodwards   

10.  A Pop of Pretty     11. Small Home Big Start       12.  Sugar Bee Crafts

Behr wants to help spread some holiday cheer in YOUR home!  Two selected winners will receive 3 gallons of BEHR MARQUEE Interior Paint & Primer in the color(s) of their choice. Limited to US and Canada.

Just enter in the rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Comments

  1. Stacey says

    November 17, 2014 at 8:18 AM

    You’re so good! Thank you for the reminder and inspiration. I’ve Pinned a Joy sign several times too. We are planking over our fireplace right now and some of the reject wood would be perfect for this project. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Kim@NewlyWoodwards says

    November 17, 2014 at 9:29 AM

    So so cute! Love the red and white and the large scale for your porch. I think you just put me over the edge – I need a large sign for my porch. (I think I actually pinned that one, too. Now I’m pinning yours, too.)

    Reply
  3. Robin says

    November 17, 2014 at 9:35 AM

    Christina your porch is beautiful and the JOY sign is the piece de resistance! Love that color red…I may need to use that one on a project this Christmas! ox

    Reply
  4. Kaye M. says

    November 17, 2014 at 10:41 AM

    Usually I’m not a big fan of the distressed look, but for your “joy” sign it was just the right touch! It looks great! I’ll bet your neighbors are envious of your beautifully decorated front porch!

    Reply
  5. kathy w says

    November 17, 2014 at 12:11 PM

    I could use a sand color for my family room.

    Reply
  6. Lisa says

    November 17, 2014 at 1:05 PM

    I like your porch decor – very pretty

    Reply
  7. Heather @ Thrifty Stories says

    November 17, 2014 at 2:02 PM

    I’ve pinned that same “JOY” sign on pinterest, but I’ve not made it yet. I should do so this year.
    Your porch looks lovely, Christina. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  8. Kristi says

    November 17, 2014 at 2:17 PM

    This is a great project. (I am popping in from Newly Woodwards.) I would love to try a project like this for our front porch for this Christmas season. I am pinning it and adding it to my DIY list! Thanks for the inspiration.

    Reply
  9. Heather @ Thrifty Stories says

    November 17, 2014 at 2:27 PM

    Sorry, I forgot to add my color….I think that I like “Pale Ivy” (MQ6-55) in the Rejuvenation palette best. 😉

    Reply
  10. Martha W. says

    November 17, 2014 at 10:55 PM

    I really like your joy sign and front porch. I would get white paint.

    Reply
  11. Nikki says

    November 17, 2014 at 11:09 PM

    I have no idea what colors I would pick, guess I need to decide on a new project (after I finish all my current ones!!)

    Reply
  12. Chelle Chapman says

    November 18, 2014 at 9:30 AM

    I LOVE all the colors in the Opulence line!!!

    Reply
  13. Sherri S. says

    November 18, 2014 at 10:41 AM

    Lovely!!!! 🙂

    Hope your week is off to a blessed start…
    ~Sherri

    Reply
  14. Marty Walden says

    November 18, 2014 at 11:07 AM

    Great project, Christina! Love that you distressed it, too!

    Reply
  15. Glo. says

    November 20, 2014 at 7:24 AM

    I have the same ‘JOY’ sign pinned. Maybe now I’ll get ‘er done! I would get a pretty cream color and a light turquoise-y blue.

    Reply
  16. mikal shone says

    October 20, 2017 at 8:23 AM

    im glad you have shared this great stuff! loved

    Reply

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Hi!  My name is Christina . . .

I love doing simple, frugal things to make our house feel like HOME! Come learn along with me how to have a beautiful home on a budget.

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