Creative DIY House Address Sign Tutorial That Will Turn Heads

Would you like to make a DIY address sign for your home? This creative DIY House Address Sign tutorial will show you how to make a home address sign that is displayed over a front door. These step-by-step instructions will help you to create a custom house address sign just like the home address sign on our front porch.

The tutorial includes how to make the letters, how to attach the boards, and how to achieve a reclaimed wood appearance for house address signs.

We were fortunate to have some reclaimed shiplap boards to use for our sign. However, we are recreating this same technique for a custom house address sign using a reclaimed wood technique with new wood.

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How To Plan For A DIY Address Sign

First, determine where you plan to use your DIY address sign. If you are placing the custom house address sign above your front door, decide how long you want the sign to be. In addition, you need to consider the distance between the door frame and the porch ceiling.

We wanted our sign to cover the top of our French doors, and therefore, we cut our shiplap boards 73 inches long.

To make the custom house address sign, we purchased two 8″ by 8′ shiplap boards and cut them to length using a miter saw.

This home address sign needs to be 60″ long and 15 inches tall. Therefore, we cut the excess wood into narrow strips using a table saw. These scrap pieces are the perfect size to attach the two long boards together from the backside creating the correct height for the sign.

If you don’t have any scrap wood, you will need to purchase additional wood or mending brackets to hold the boards together from the backside.

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How To Make A Home Address Sign

Now let’s construct the home address sign.

Begin by attaching the two boards together using the scrap wood which was cut from the excess length of the sign boards.

Turn the two boards with the backside up and align the two boards evenly with the inside edges touching. Then attach the wood strips with screws to hold the boards together.

Be sure to use screws that are the proper length to avoid the screw coming through the front of the sign.

If your DIY Address Sign is similar in size to this one, I recommend placing a minimum of 3 attachments to the back of your sign. The wood attachments will not be visible once your sign is hung.

How To Distress Your Custom House Address Signs New Wood

If you don’t have reclaimed wood to make your house address signs, you can still achieve a distressed, reclaimed wood appearance with this technique.

The first step to aging your new wood house address sign is to add some dings and dents to the wood.

This can be achieved with various tools, including hammers, screwdrivers, chains, nails, screws, etc. Anything that you can beat the boards with.

Begin by placing your sign right side up on a solid surface and begin hammering away. This is also a great stress reliever. LOL.

You can add as many distress marks as you desire to the new wood.

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How To Whitewash New Wood

After you finish with the distressing, you will want to whitewash your new wooden sign.

In order to achieve an aged appearance, you will need to stain the wood before applying the whitewash. This will require a gray penetrating stain and your choice of white paint.

See complete details on How to Whitewash Wood.

For the address sign, I used this Classic Gray Minwax Stain and White Chalk Paint.

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Minwax Classic Gray Stain – White Chalk Paint – Rust-Oleum Mat Sealer

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How to Add A Custom House Address To Your Sign

There are several options for adding the custom house address to the signs.

You can purchase wooden letters, self-adhesive vinyl letters, purchase stencil letters, or make your own custom letters.

Once the paint is dry, you are ready to add your signage.

For this step, I used letters that I created with a Silhouette Cameo. I used card stock to cut each individual letter, and the taller letters are approximately 11 inches tall.

If you don’t have a Silhouette Cameo or Cricut Maker, you can purchase precut stencils to complete your project.

You will probably want to purchase upper case stencils and lower case to achieve the look you desire.

Here are some resource links: Silhouette Cameo – Cricut Maker – Upper Case Stencils – Lower Case Stencils

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How To Align Letters for Home Address Sign

In order to ensure that your letters will be arranged and fit properly on your sign, I recommend tracing the letters with a pencil before applying any paint.

You want to ensure that the placement is appealing in design. It’s very difficult to correct after you begin stenciling with paint.

You don’t have to trace the entire letter, just enough to ensure proper placement of the stencil.

How To Stencil The Custom House Address Sign

Begin by aligning the first stencil and securing it in place with painter’s tape.

Using a stencil brush, add a small amount of paint and blot any excess from the brush. In a downward motion, paint your stencil.

Note: Because the stencils may overlap to get the placement correct, you may need to allow drying time before moving to the next letter.

Stencil Resources : Stencil Brush Set – Painter’s Tape – Black Craft Paint

Creative Address Sign Optional Step

In addition, you can add dimension to your signage by adding a shadow effect. This is an optional step that I would like to add.

Once the original stenciled paint is dry, place your stencil back over each letter slightly to the left and upward of the original placement. Using a very dry brush of your original paint color, lightly stencil again. This creates a shadow behind the heavier paint.

Now, the signage is complete. Allow to dry, and then coat with a fine mist of Rust-Oleum Mat Sealer. If your sign will be exposed to rain or snow, you will want to seal the entire sign. Spray both the front and back with at least two coats of protective sealer.

House Address Sign Options

First, I wanted to duplicate my original reclaimed wood sign as closely as possible, so I added a couple swipes of blue paint to the white paint. If you choose to do this, be sure to use a very dry brush technique.

In addition, the signage can be made using vinyl letters or wooden letters to create a unique home address sign.

Secure The DIY Address Sign For Safety

Because the sign is above our front doors, we screwed the sign to the wall at a couple of different support studs. We didn’t want it to fall on someone accidentally.

Be sure that your sign is secure to avoid any possible injuries.

In addition, you may prefer a coordinates address sign for your house, like the one I made for our beach cottage.

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Seasonal Front Porch Inspiration

• Fall Porch Tour
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• Farmhouse Christmas Porch Ideas
• 7 Must-Have Country Porch DIY Ideas
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• Farmhouse Porch Christmas Tour
• Creative Farmhouse Wreath and Christmas Decor Ideas
• Best Ideas for Decorating a Fall Porch

Also, see How to Use Chalk Paint for more helpful painting tips.

I hope this answers any questions you have about making a house address sign.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I look forward to sharing my next adventure with you.

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