Give fall a warm welcome with a custom handmade rustic wood sign! This DIY is a simple way to add a personal touch to your seasonal home decor. Hang it outside to greet guests or in one of your common rooms to bring all those fall feelings inside!

Supplies:

Hardwood cut to sizeDrill with 1/8″ drill bitTwineScissorsWhite paintFine paint brushChalkPencilPaper print out of phrase, symbol or sayingTape measure

Instructions:

Pick a piece of board close in size to a standard piece of printer paper (here we picked a board that was 10″ x 12″. We used a piece of planed walnut and had it cut to size at the hardware store before starting. If you’re super handy you can cut the board on a table saw yourself.

Print out a saying, symbol, or phrase on a piece of regular printer paper. Here we enlarged the letters l-o-v-e f-a-l-l but you could easily change up your saying to something like “hello autumn”, “fall is here”, “welcome fall” or whatever other wordsy fall greeting you can come up with! Print on an 8.5″ x 11″ standard piece of paper to make the transfer easy!

1. Start by drilling two small holes in the top of the board, evenly spaced from the center (if you use the proposed measurements above of 10″ x 12″ then drill your holes at approximately 3″.

2. Feed a piece of twine into each hole and tie. Move the knot around so that it is hanging directly behind one of the holes and isn’t visible. This gives you a nice, sturdy way to hang the sign on the wall once you are finished.

3. To get the perfect letters, chalk the back of your printed paper and line up on the wood.

4. Use a pencil to draw around the lines of the letters. Press hard to transfer the chalk onto the wood. When you go to remove the paper you should get a perfect stencil of your letters or symbols that you transferred onto the wood.

5. Use a fine paint brush and white paint to neatly paint in the lines of your letters. You can also opt to chalk here if you prefer a lighter look. The paint will probably only need one coat but will create a nice bold look for your letters. Let dry for the amount of time indicated on the back of the paint bottle. If you accidentally paint outside the lines, use a small piece of fine grit sand paper to remove the paint once it has dried.

This should wrap up your sign! Put a nail in the wall or find an empty hook and hang your sign to welcome in all the feelings of fall!