Last fall, I gave birth to my second son, Mr. Brayden.  That meant I was lucky enough to also get to design his nursery (!!!), and we decided to go with a modern woodland theme.  One of these days I’ll get around to finishing the blog post with the big reveal….ahhhh, never enough time….or energy. #momlife

While the majority of the room was going to have a modern flair, I did want to add some rustic touches as well.  Enter these DIY signs!  They were so inexpensive and easy to make, and having them flank both sides of the window adds such a nice element to the room. Here I’m sharing all the details on how I made them!

 

How to Make Rustic Woodland Signs

Supplies:

• 1 x 18 x 48 laminated pine board, cut into four equal boards & sanded
• Stain
• Rag & disposable gloves
• Silhouette Cameo & 12″ x 24″ cutting mat
• Stencil film & transfer tape
• Font and image(s)
• White and orange paint
• Light brown furniture wax
• Command strips

 

My Mockup

Since I’d be cutting out the stencils in stencil film with my beloved Silhouette Cameo, I created my designs in Silhouette Studio.  I wanted the signs to be stained dark, then have the woodland images and accompanying phrases painted in white with orange stripes at the top and bottom.

The font I used is called Casual Brush.  I just love the hand-scripted look and how….casual….it is.

The four images are a part of a dingbat font called True North Extras.  Dingbats are the bee’s knees, for real.  I use them whenever possible instead of tracking down individual clipart or SVG files.

[If you’d rather have vectors instead of the dingbat font, you can snag those here.]

The woodland animal/image and saying combinations I decided to go with are:

• Bear/Be Brave
• Crossed Arrows/Aim High
• Moose/Run Wild
• Mountain/Explore

 

The Wood Boards

Now that my designs were complete, I headed over to my local Home Depot and scoped out the lumber department.  There I grabbed a 1 x 18 x 48 laminated pine board that only cost around $13….

 

….and had a lovely employee cut it into four equally-sized smaller boards (just under 12″ wide).  It was free and one less job for my very pregnant butt to do at home, so thanks Mr. Home Depot Guy!

So, $13 ÷ 4 boards = $3.25 per board + tax + the rest of the supplies that I already had on hand.  You can’t beat that!

 

Staining the Boards

Once I got home, I sanded each of the boards and then stained them in my favorite dark color.  I just love how that wood grain POPS now.  Pretty, no?

 

Cutting & Painting the Stencils

Now it was time to get my stenciling on!  I’ve already shared a full tutorial on how I cut and use stencil film to make painted wood signs, so check that out if you’d like all the deets on that process.  Stencil film is pretty darn amazeballs.

 

The Completed Rustic Woodland Signs!

Once my stencils were cut and applied, and the images, words, and stripes were painted, I let them get nice and dry.  Then I applied some light brown furniture wax to finish everything off.

And here’s how they turned out!  The white really POPS off the dark stain and wood grain, and the orange stripes add a nice jolt of color that will contrast nicely with the gray wall and navy curtains in Brayden’s room.

 

Hanging the Boards

Command strips are my favorite method for hanging pictures or other home decor items because no holes!  Plus, unlike nails, they give you some wiggle room for adjusting the final placement….ya know, just in case you don’t exactly measure everything correctly.

They’ve worked great for holding up heavy items like my son’s busy board and medium-weight items like our family growth chart ruler, so these not-so-heavy-signs wouldn’t be a problem either.

We added two large strips to the top of the boards that would be hanging high on the wall, and four strips on the lower boards.  You can never trust kiddos and their curious little fingers….

 

Brayden’s Modern Woodland Nursery!

Here’s how the finished signs look hanging up in Brayden’s modern woodland nursery.  I just LOVE them so.  They really amp up the theme and are so graphic.  Another inexpensive and easy DIY for the win!

 

To learn how to add legs to an IKEA shelf, check this out!

 

If You Enjoyed This….

Make sure you check out my Project Gallery for lots of my other crafty creations, including these!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!