Weathered Antique DIY Sign From a Printed Poster

Make your own DIY weathered antique sign for less! An oversized printed poster is painted to resemble a weathered and rusty vintage sign. Video tutorial included.
Weathered antique sign, patriotic wreath, vintage book stack
 
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If you love the look of an antique sign, but don't want to pay the high price tag, this is the project for you!

I'm going to show you how you can create an oversized, weathered, vintage looking sign from a printable for under $20!

Inspiration

I was inspired by the following signs I spotted across the web. I love the fonts, colors, the appearance of real wood and the rusty, vintage nature of these signs. The simplicity of the last one really caught my eye. It was originally created by Liz Marie, and you can buy the digital download from the link below.
antique signs inspiration



I thought it would be fun to recreate this sign as best as I could, and see if I could then weather and age it using paint.

How to Turn a Paper Printable into a Weathered Antique Sign


I think my reproduction sign looks pretty good, and I'm excited to show you how I accomplished this. The painting portion is super easy and really no-fail! 

Supplies


printable poster, paints, brushes

Step one

Go to Walgreens.com and select THIS size poster. Upload the printable (free for subscribers) and have it printed. You could use any copy store but this project works with the glossy poster paper.

Step two

Unroll poster onto table. Be sure to protect your work surface with brown paper or something else. Shake up the Vintage Effects Wash and apply a single coat across the entire poster, including the words.

This will dramatically transform the shiny brightness of the poster and give it a matte, vintage effect, perfect for making an antique sign!

vintage effects wash, foam brush, poster

painted poster with vintage effects wash

Step three

Use acrylic paints to create depth, rust and good 'ole vintage crustiness wherever you want! Please refer to the video below to follow along as I antique this paper sign in just minutes!


antique sign, vintage flags, spools, greenery

Here's a close up of the distressing I did with paint in the corners of this antique sign. I think I'll go back and blend it a little better with some more paint but from afar it looks great!

close up of weathered effect on sign

For the summer, I think this DIY antique sign pairs beautifully with a mix of patriotic and Americana decor. You can see how I made my Primitive Scrap Fabric Flags with very few supplies.

weathered antiques sign, primitive fabric flags

If you wanted, you can add a barnwood look to the background of the sign within the Walgreens dashboard. I thought about it, and now kinda wish I would have tried it. It is an extra charge but I think I'll splurge for the next DIY printable sign I make.

You could also use a black Sharpie and a ruler to draw your own shiplap boards, spacing them evenly across the sign before painting it.

patriotic ribbon wreath, antique crate, weathered sign

This antiqued printable is the same technique I used on the Cottages to Let sign hanging in our guestroom. I made a couple of signs for Christmas as well, and I simply store the unused signs in the backing of the frame. The signs are easy to switch out anytime I get a hankering for something different!

Cottages to Let weathered sign, pink and white bedding, guest room

This little rusty star looks great beside the faux rusted corner of my antique weathered sign.

rusty star, weathered sign, greenery

I really hope I've inspired you to make your own weathered sign from a printable! If you're a subscriber, then you have free access to my Resource Library which contains all my printables, which are free for your personal use, not to be reproduced or sold!

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Antiques the Cottage weathered sign, patriotic vignette

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Comments

  1. Oh how I love the outcome of this Antiques sign! You made it so doable for most anyone to now cherish one of these beauties!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for sharing with us at the To Grandma's house we go Wednesday link party - I'm featuring you this week!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wouldn't change a thing, I think the sign is perfection Cindy! It really does look like an antique sign. I am visiting from Funky Junk Interiors.

    ReplyDelete

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