HARVEST Barnwood Sign for Fall

Barnwood signs are so popular for every season, but I especially love them in the fall!

This HARVEST sign is such a quick, easy burst of fall color for your front steps! Partner it with some mums and pumpkins and you are done!

One of the most challenging parts of the project is finding the barnwood. Check Craigslist. Check with friends who live on farms. Check in vintage and antique stores! I got mine from a local pumpkin patch who was tearing down a barn. Keep in mind that the more beat up the board, the better! And the color doesn't matter, because you are painting it!

The first thing I did was paint the board in "Orange Dot" from Sherwin Williams. This is a $6 sample quart from SW. I covered the board about 80% and left some wood showing.

This video shows you how to brush the paint on so it doesn't look freshly painted. After the paint was dry, I lightly sanded it a little with a sanding block to make the paint look worn.

I had a custom stencil made from The Mad Stencilist online so that I could make several of these boards for giveaways on my website (www.themagicbrushinc.com) . I used 3M's 77 spray as adhesive to stick the stencil to the board to make the stenciling easier and keep the stencil in place .

And then I used white acrylic paint to stencil the letters. Dry brush this on being careful not to apply it too thick or consistent. You don't want it to look perfect and you don't want paint to bleed underneath the stencil. One tip for stenciling on barnwood.... drag the paint up and down in the direction of the wood grain instead of in circles.

Once the letters were all stenciled, I went back and fixed the "bridges" with a little paint so that it didn't look like a stencil! After it was all dry, I gave the letters a little sanding so the white paint wouldn't look too fresh either.

And I'm in love with the way it brings such a pop to my front steps!

You can find more fall projects like these on my Facebook page for Jennifer Allwood.

Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/10004495/harvest-barnwood-sign-for-fall site