Looking for a fun DIY decor project? Check out these tips for painting wood signs to add some cute painted sign ideas for fall.

When I shared my fall tour from this year (you can see it here), this was the most commented on photo.

Can you guess why?

It wasn’t the pumpkins (I think there are over 45 of them on the hutch).

It wasn’t the wheat sheaves.

It wasn’t the vintage books or the milkglass or the pitchers or the candle or the transferware plates.

It was the SIGN.

Can you spot it?

The sign says STRAWBERRIES at the bottom (and it’s fall). I’m pretty sure it isn’t strawberry-picking season anymore.

Yikes.

I never even noticed it.

But once you all pointed it out, I had to fix it.

So now? The sign looks like this.

And this.

Want to know how I fixed it?

I have painted dozens of wood signs in my life.

Signs and friends of signs and entire sign families.

And in all my sign painting, I’ve learned a few things.

Things that make sign painting a breeze.

My original plan was just to flip the bottom board around and paint pumpkins on it.

It’s attached by twine.

I thought I’d cut the twine and flip the board between seasons. One side could have strawberries and one side could have pumpkins.

Brilliant, right?

Except when I went to flip it? This is what I saw.

Some brilliant sign painter years ago had painted STRAWBERRIES on both sides.

Sigh.

Time for plan B.

Paint another board to go on top of the STRAWBERRIES.

Luckily, we had this old vintage pallet board out in the workshop.

It matches the original sign almost perfectly.

The board was cut to cover STRAWBERRIES, and then?

It was time to paint the sign.

How To Paint A Sign

1. Plan the lettering

I based the size of my letters (and the font I used) on the original STRAWBERRIES.

If the wording is longer than one sheet of paper, print it across several pages.

Trim the excess paper and arrange the pages so the letters are evenly spaced.

2. Cut out the letters

After printing it out on my home computer, I cut out the inside of the letters.

My best printing tip? If the wording is longer than one sheet of paper, print it across several pages.

Trim the excess paper and arrange the pages so the letters are evenly spaced.

For the “P” I cut out the middle and just placed it inside the “P” to trace around it.

3. Trace each letter

Hold each paper template in place and trace around it lightly with a pencil.

(Total aside: it might be a good idea to tape it.)

I went a little rogue, and it was a little crooked.

And now?

For the best tip of all.

My number one tip for painting a wood sign?

Start in the middle.

Count your letters.

Then start in the middle.

For example, PUMPKINS has 8 letters.  The P and K are the middle letters.  Measure to the center of the board and place the P and the K there.  Start tracing the P and the K first and go out from there.

4. Paint inside the outlines

I used two different types of brushes and white craft paint.

The slanted brush helped form the base of the letter, then I used the smaller brush to fill in the edges.

Here’s the smaller brush that shaped the end of the letters.

Also—you can see I didn’t always stay within the lines.

No worries.

You can go back and erase the pencil lines later.

5. Let the paint dry completely

See how imperfect the letters are when I finished painting.

Don’t worry.

We’ll fix all that when we sand and erase the pencil marks.

Make sure not to sand or distress the letters while the paint is still tacky.

6. Distress the lettering

I wanted to distress the letters to match the other words on the sign.

For this, I used 60-grit sandpaper.

Lightly sand over the dried letters.

Don’t overthink it—just sand so the letters are distressed a little unevenly.

Make sure to erase any visible guidelines that remain outside the painted letters.

7. Add hanging holes if needed

My other plan was to add hooks, so I could just change it out for the seasons (maybe even add a CHRISTMAS TREE one for Christmas).

But the wood was too thick.

So instead, we drilled small holes and screwed the two signs together.

I left the sign unsealed because the rest of the sign wasn’t sealed, but you could always add a clear matte sealer.

Please do your signs a favor and listen to one who’s been there.

Don’t go rogue.

A little planning on letter placement goes a long way.

Just start in the middle, and you’ll keep yourself and your sign centered.

Especially if it’s fall and you aren’t picking strawberries anymore. 🙂

And in AMAZING news look what I found (they are on the way to my house as we speak).

These are village window CLINGS.

Yep.

You can use them over and over and over again.

I’m going to add them to a mirror in the entryway and hang a wreath above them with red ribbon.

You can see the window clings (with a coupon) here.

Disclosure: affiliate links are used in this post.

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