DIY Farmhouse Distressed Wood Sign Tutorial with Printable

I love getting getting to do FREE projects. You know, when you find something around your house that could use a facelift and you have all of the supplies already on hand. No extra money to spend and you get a new piece of decor! That's what happened when I decided to re-do the sign that was hanging in our kitchen.

This was the sign before:

I got it at home goods, and while I did like the sign, I got a little bored with it after being up for several months. I knew I could give it new life though, with just a little bit of paint!

First, I painted the sign white, using 3 coats of Sherwin Williams paint from Lowe's. I then went to the computer and used Gimp (a free downloadable version of Photoshop) to type out the letters so that I could trace them onto paper. I simply held the paper up to the computer screen, and used a marker to trace the outline of the letters.

You can download the letters in the farm-house print below. Just click on each letter to open he JPEG image to trace.

Once traced onto the paper, I cut each letter out, and placed them on my board. I then used a marker, and traced the letter on to the painted board. Honestly, use whatever color you are painting your letters. For some reason I had the bright idea to use purple, and it took a little bit more work to cover up.

I then took my black paint and started filling in the letters and outlining them. I am no artist for sure, so my letters definitely did not turn out perfectly, but I think that helped add character to the distressed look of it.

Once I had all of my letters filled in, and the paint was dry, I took a rag dipped it in white paint and rubbed it all the way across the board, giving it a white washed distressed look. I then took a wet rag, and wiped some of it off, to distress it even more.