HARVEST Barnwood sign for fall – my pin that is going VIRAL on Pinterest!

This Harvest Sign is such a quick, easy burst of fall color for your front steps! Partner it with some mums and pumpkins and…. boom. Fall front porch decor = D.U.N. (yes, I know how to spell)! I will show you how to make this in a few easy steps below!

This post does contain affiliate links which helps me to be able to continue doing projects for this blog. I only recommend products I use and love! 

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. If I were doing it again I would totally use Shirley’s Pumpkin from Heirloom Traditions. It’s become my very favorite orange paint color.  See this fall pallet project with that Shirley’s Pumpkin color on it as well. Divine!!!! While you’re shopping HTP, pick up one of these amazing chalk paint brushes! They are so great to work with, especially with chalk type paints. 

This video shows you how to brush the paint on the harvest sign 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. Yes, you could buy stencil letters individually or you could try to cut your own stencil letters, but I’d rather shoot myself in the foot that spend time like that. Lol.  Order a stencil.  Save your sanity.  And your foot. You can order the stencils all of my stencil designs HERE.

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 .  You can get that spray at Jo-Ann’s.

And then I used white acrylic paint to stencil the letters on the harvest sign. 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. A quick 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!  This video explains why.  After it was all dry, I gave the letters a little sanding so the white paint wouldn’t look too fresh either on this harvest sign.

And there you go. This is a QUICK, easy project!

My pin on this project has gone viral and you can repin it for later HERE !  There are over 1 million impressions on this pin already and that just makes me soooooooooo happy! Thank you all for loving this sign so much and for pinning it like crazy!  You are the best!

Well unfortunately, my viral pin for this harvest sign was deleted…. totally my fault (insert crying right here).  We’ve made another pin and believe it will get just as much traction.  You can find it HERE. Help me recover from my boo-boo by repinning my harvest sign from below!

xoxo,

Jennifer

PS. I’ve got more fall painting projects! I  think you’ll really LOVE this simple “Always Give Thanks” fall pallet that I painted with another stencil.  There’s also ombre fall pallet has been a huge hit. Check that out too!

Also, it may be time to update your home with a fresh coat of paint — watch my free video with my favorite paint colors! It will help you get a jump on the project and gain confidence in your color decisions!