Love me some USA!

July already! In three short days you’ll be celebrating Independence Day with family, BBQs and fireworks, woo!! I thought it was the perfect time to share one of my latest projects; a rustic wooden sign featuring the good ‘ol US of A! Originally my mission was to make some sort of ‘manly’ wall décor for my brother, which I did, but the hubs and I ended up liking it so much that I made another for us!

What was great about this project was the fact it cost me $7.50 to make both, not each, both! I took myself down to Lowes {my glorious home away from home} and bought 5 fence boards at $1.50 each. The fence boards aren’t great quality and are made from cheap wood but they’re light weight, and their imperfections are perfect for the beat up look I wanted. To make one yourself you’ll only need 3 fence boards and it will only cost you $4.50, sweeeeet!!

Okay, first step… sand those suckers down! You want a rustic look, but you don’t want splinters, so give them a once over to smooth them out a bit. Next, cut 2 fence boards in half and the last board into fourths. You’ll have 4 equal pieces for the sign and 4 smaller pieces to use on the back (you really only need 2 of the smaller pieces for the back, so save 2 for a future use). I stained my boards, which you don’t have to do, but I wanted them dark, so I used my Rustoleum Stain in Dark Walnut and wiped it off as soon as I put it on. To attach your boards together you’ll need to screw your smaller pieces onto the backs. Flip your boards over, line them up and place the 2 small boards on vertically, drilling one wood screw into each board, on each side. I really didn’t explain that well, so look at the picture below to see the back of my signs. Don’t forget to pre drill a pilot hole- otherwise your boards will split!

To get the shape of the United States I made a giant stencil by printing the outline on printer paper, taping the pages together, cutting them out, placing them on my sign and tracing the outline on. I found an awesome website, it had multiple maps and outlines of the US and of each state individually, it lets you decide what size you’d like to print, based on how many pages it will use. I chose a 3x3, so 9 pieces of paper; you can print on 1 sheet of paper or all the way up to an 8x8 on 64 pages! Click HERE to be taken to the website.

Alright, your sign is made, stencil done, time to trace the outline on and paint! I painted along the edges first to give myself a buffer and finished by painting the entire US white. After the paint dried I took the signs back outside and sanded them down a little more to distress and rough them up so the wood showed through the white paint. I made each sign in an afternoon, so it really didn’t take much time and I ended with two rustic signs, one for my brother and one for JD’s man room.

I have seen these types of decorative signs in stores lately and they are expensive! No thank you! You can easily make your own and customize it, I think an individual state would look great and one with a world map would be awesome! Happy Independence Day from the Poplin’s and Ramseier’s, I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4^th of July!!

     xoxo,

              Rachele