This project has been in the works for a while so I am super excited to share it with you all today. Way back in the summer, we did a mini makeover on our front porch. At that time, I noticed that we had a big blank wall on our porch that was begging for some decor. I started thinking about what I wanted to put there. I knew I wanted a sign but didn’t want to get stuck with the same sign up there all year round. So the idea of an interchangeable front porch sign started to form.

The blank wall that we had to fill was pretty sizable so I knew we had to make a big sign. Then the question was what to fill it with? I love the look of cut out wood word signs and wanted to incorporate those into the sign. The sign also needed some sort of a background. I briefly threw around the idea of ship lap but we happened to have some galvanized corrugated metal leftover from another project. The metal had come from the side of an outdoor building so we knew it would do fine outside in the elements. Plus the metal would make it easy to attach the words as you will see later. 😉

I realize most people probably don’t have galvanized corrugated metal just lying around their house, but you can buy it! It does not come looking perfectly weathered like this of course, but there are ways to weather it if you like that look. Just google it. 🙂 I have also seen the weathered tin for sale on ebay so that is another option.

I love that I can change up the words for the different seasons and holidays! You can also have general greetings to put up at times when there is not much going on with the holidays.

Now onto the tutorial so you can make your own. Of course, our sign was designed to fit the space we had and this tutorial is based on the size that we made our sign. The finished size of our sign is 32″x50″. You can make your sign any size you want however. 🙂

*There are links to products in this post that I use or are similar to products I use.  If you buy something from one of these links, I may make a small commission (with no additional cost to you) from the purchase.  I will not recommend anything that I would not buy myself. Thank you for supporting my blog!

For this project you will need:

• 2 – 2’x6’x8′ construction lumbar
• Corrugated metal – our piece was roughly 26″x42″
• Stain
• Clear spray paint
• Small screws
• Kreg 2″ screws
• Lag screws
• Wood word cutouts – if you don’t have a way to cut them out yourself, you can purchase them on Etsy.
• Magnets

Tools you will need:

• Table Saw
• Router
• Straight bit
• Belt Sander
• Orbital Sander
• Kreg Jig
• Drill
• Tin Snips
• 3/4″ Forstner Bit (optional)

After you figure out the size you want your sign to be, cut your 2×6’s down to size for the frame. Ours were cut to 50″ for the long edges and 21 5/8″ for the shorter edges.

The 2×6 lumbar came with rounded edges, which I did not care for the look of. As you can see in the picture below, they did not butt up to each other very well.

Mr. Wonderful cut off the rounded edges using a table saw so we had all straight edges to work with. You don’t have to cut off the edges if you like that more rustic look. I think the frame looks a little ‘cleaner’ like this though.

To assemble the frame, Mr. W used one of his favorite tools, the Kreg jig. 🙂 If you don’t have one of these, he highly suggests you get one!

We did have to cut our corrugated metal piece down just a bit. If you have to cut yours, these tin snips work well for it.

To attach the metal to the frame, it needed to be inset into the frame on the back side. In order for this to happen, we needed to make a rabbet by routering out some of the wood. Center your metal piece down on the frame and trace around it. Mark the wood that you need to remove.

Mr. Wonderful used a straight bit on his router to remove the excess wood. To figure out how deep to set the bit, he first measured the thickness of the corrugated metal. He wanted to make sure the metal was completely recessed into the frame.

After everything was set, he used the router to remove the marked wood on the back of the frame.

He attached the metal to the frame using small screws. Our metal piece had some holes in it already that we made use of but we also had to make a few more holes. For these, Mr. W pre-drilled some holes along the edge of the metal before using the screws.

After it was assembled to double check the fit, he took the metal piece back off to sand and stain the wood. Mr. Wonderful used a belt sander to smooth out the joints and then an orbital sander for the rest of the face and edges.

We used Minwax Dark Walnut for our stain. We wanted the frame to go well with our newly darker stained front porch. You can finish the frame however you would like, whether it be stain, paint or just a clear coat.

Because the sign was going outdoors, we wanted to seal it with something that would stand up a little better to the elements. We ended up using a matte clear spray paint to seal it. I really like the finish it gave.

To attach the frame to the siding, we used the same lag screws that we attached our DIY craftsman style shutters with. Again we pre-drilled holes on the frame.

Here is the finished frame without any words on it. Realistically you can put anything you want on it, it doesn’t have to be just words. That is the beauty of it! 😉

However, like I said earlier, I really LOVE the wood words and wanted to use those.

We are so lucky (and thankful!) to have a friend who can laser cut these words that Mr. W and I designed!! In exchange, Mr. Wonderful made them a sign like this for their front porch too! 🙂 If you don’t have an awesome friend like we do, you can cut these words out with a jigsaw but it may be a little hard. Another option is that you can buy laser cut words from sellers on Etsy like this one.

If you have a way to cut them out, here are the words we have made for our sign so far:

gather | hello | home | thankful | grateful | boo | welcome | believe | frozen | bloom | sunshine |

I painted the wood words with a cream colored acrylic paint. We will also be sealing those with the clear spray paint. I wanted the words to stand out from the sign and thought that black would not stand out enough. To attach the words, we bought some round button magnets and hot glued them to the back of the words.

Mr. Wonderful inset them a little using a 3/4″ forstner bit before gluing them on but you do not have to do this step.

The magnets make it so easy to switch the words out!! That is why having a metal background is such an advantage too!

I  tried painting the ‘Boo’ sign with the edges black. We wanted to see if it made the word stand out a little more.

You may recognize this ‘Boo’ sign from my Halloween gallery wall. That is another plus, you can use the words inside to decorate with as well!

While the difference is not really noticeable, I think I like the words better all painted cream. The words look a little bolder. What do you think? Not to mention, it was much easier to paint them all one color. 🙂

I currently have ‘Thankful’ up for Thanksgiving of course! I am looking forward to changing these signs out for the upcoming holidays and seasons!

By the way, what do you think of the darker stain on the front porch? I am a fan! I really like it more than the orangey colored cedar stain. You can see what it looked like before here. We are expecting some snow today so we can say goodbye to that nice green grass in the picture. But it is perfect timing to get me in the mood for the Christmas posts I will be starting on Sunday! 😉