"JOY" Faux Barn Wood Christmas Wreath Sign

Last year my Christmas decorating was really limited to having a tree and doing up my mantel. This year, I expanded my holiday decor to match my modern farmhouse look and set up a few new things including this JOY sign.

I have a massive wall behind my couch which needed a large decor piece and this worked perfectly. I didn't happen to have any huge pieces of barnwood on hand so I used a faux barnwood treatment to get it to look like old barn wood or a pallet and paired it with milk painted letters and a pretty wreath. Even though my finished piece is 24" x 48" this whole project scales up or down beautifully to be any size you need for your space.

How to Make Farmhouse Style Christmas Wall Art

Supplies

Scrap backing board or plywood, cut to measure 24" x 48"
(you can usually ask to have this done for you in-store if you are buying new wood)
FolkArt barnwood tint and wax
FolkArt milk paint brush (or other large, dark bristled paintbrush)
Gloves
Rag
Jumbo craft sticks (3)
24" Christmas Wreath
Burlap and lace ribbon
High temp hot glue gun
Professional strength hot glue
Chalk
FolkArt milk paint in milky white
Wide detail brush (I used the 3/4" brush from this set-it was perfect!)
Fine/Medium grit sanding sponge
3 M large picture hanging strips

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Directions

STEP 1: Wood Base

My wood was in good condition from being stored in my garage, so I needed to treat it to look like barn wood. If you have access to a large sheet of naturally aged wood, you can skip this step.

Put on your gloves and pour a small amount of the barnwood tint onto the wood. Use a large, dark bristled brush to spread the tint, brushing in the direction of the stain. If needed, wipe away excess stain with a rag or paper towel and allow to dry for four hours or more.

After the stain has set for four hours, get the barnwood wax, your gloves, a rag and the jumbo craft sticks ready for the waxing step. Put on the gloves and pour a small amount of wax (about the size of a gold dollar) onto the wood. Use the rag to drag the wax with the grain of the wood. Immediately after the wax has been spread in a thin layer, drag the long side of a jumbo craft stick with the grain of the wood to scrape up excess and enhance the barnwood look. Continue spreading wax and scraping with craft sticks until the whole piece of wood is waxed and scraped. Use the rag to buff in the same direction as the wood grain to be sure any excess wax is rubbed in/off. Allow to set for four hours.

STEP 2: Wreath

Lay the wreath in the very center of the wood. Cut a length of ribbon and use hot glue to secure one end of the back of the wreath and one end to the back of the board in order to hang the wreath on the board. Make a coordinating bow with the same ribbon used for hanging if desired.

STEP 3: Letters

Using a piece of chalk, lightly draw out where you would like the J and Y to appear on either side of the wreath.

Shake the milk paint well. Dip the 3/4" brush from the decoupage brush set into the paint and trace the J and Y onto the board following the outline you drew in chalk. Continue expanding the width of the letters until you like how they look. Allow to dry completely.

Once the paint is completely dry, use sand paper or a sanding sponge to lightly distress the letters.

STEP 4: Hang

Use 3M picture hanging strips on the back to make hanging simple!

I hung it above this Christmas display I have set up on the back wall. The dressers are the Luna 10 Drawer Accent Chest from Wayfair (there are two next to each other). On top, I have 24" faux pine and 18" faux pine from Consumer Crafts along with some canister snow globes I made with large pantry jars, fake snow and ceramic Christmas houses.

Merry Christmas!

About the Author:

Carissa is an award-winning green lifestyle writer and mom of two active boys. The owner and lead writer for Creative Green Living, she most recently won the "Best Green Lifestyle Blogger" award at ShiftCon 2019 in Atlanta.

Her goal is to empower families to make healthier, more sustainable choices that are beautiful and delicious!

She is also the author of Beautiful Smoothie Bowls (Skyhorse, 2017), Proven Techniques for Keeping Healthy Chickens (Skyhorse, 2018) and The Little Green Book of Mothers' Wisdom (Skyhorse, 2020).

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