Rustic JOY Christmas Sign (Behr Holiday Hues)

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.  

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

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

See … so much better!

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.    I am determined to not be stressed this year and having the decorating done early is going to help SOOO much!

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. 

I am just imagining signs I can make for every season!   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. 

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!

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!

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