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Decor & DIY

DIY “Believe” Holiday Porch Sign

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DIY signs are everywhere and this B.E.L.I.E.V.E sign is no exception. I have seen them on Pinterest and on Instagram. I have no idea what steps others use to create theirs because I don’t think I ever intended to make one. But recently, as I was scrolling through Instagram I spotted another one. Truthfully, I really like these signs so I figured that one will look cool on the porch along with our Christmas decor. I gave it “a go” using my own creations. And this is how it turned out! 

DIY Believe Sign

I thought of polishing and straightening up the letters a bit more but I figured it was good enough for me. It is not meant to be perfect – just a readable sign that looks possible enough for front door decor. I think it turned out great! These are the materials I used to make this sign:

  • 3 ft scrap wood from Home Depot (a little over $2 for a piece around 12 ft. I had it cut down to size)
  • White spray paint
  • Red spray paint
  • Painters tape 
  • Sandpaper
  • Measuring tape
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Newspaper

Believe sign

The paints should be made for outdoor use to stand up to the changing weather conditions. Also, the wood is indoor material but the outdoor paint would help it hold up longer.

With that said, the first thing I did was spray a coat or two of White paint over the wood. It was already primed white so that was helpful in getting my “almost finished” can of white spray paint to stretch. Note: I sprayed it white because I wanted the letters to show up white. If you want the letters to show up red, then start with red paint or blue or green, gold, or whatever color you prefer. See a similar sign I made earlier this year here.

believe sign 2

OK – so call me crazy for using painters tape for this but I could not find the size of vinyl letters I wanted to use. And I did not want to go around in stores searching so I figured I would give it a try with painters tape. Hey if all failed, paint is an easy fix. Just paint over and start all over again with better letters!

To figure out equal spacing of the letters, I divided the length of the piece of wood by the number of letters in the word “believe”. So 3ft is 36 inches and the word “believe” has 7 letters, making this 36 divided by 7 resulting in 5 inches per each space (leaving an extra inch hanging). That way, I knew that each letter needs to be within at least 5 inches of spacing. I took the measuring tape and measured 5 inches apart for each letter and marked the spots lightly with a pencil (easier to erase). Remember that extra inch? I divided it in half between the top and the bottom ends of the piece of wood, leaving half each both top and bottom before I began measuring for the letters.

believe sign 1

Once I was done measuring, I used painters tape to form letters and taped them in order unto the wood.

believe sign 3

Forming a “B” was kind of technical because of the curved edges.

believe sign 4

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Once all the letters were safely taped, I layered the wood on newspaper and used the red paint to spray over it a couple of coats with drying time in between. Spray the entire surface, covering the letters, too.

believe sign 7Then when it is fully dried, the painters tape was easy to peel off with no residue!

believe ign 9

believe sign 8

Like I mentioned earlier, the “B” was tricky to work with so I had to get creative once I removed the original tape.

  • Painters tape is square so I made some curved edges (instruction #2).
  • Then I covered the entire “B” to prevent it from getting sprayed over again (instruction #3).
  • Next, I peeled off the curved pieces (instruction #4).
  • Finally, I sprayed the little holes with red paint (instruction #5) and allowed it to dry then peeled off the rest of the tape.

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believe sign 17

Some of the edges of the letters were uneven because I was doing this in a hurry. Plus I had a baby in arms for part of the time I was adding the letters. I used a little paint and a tiny paint brush to straighten them up just a tiny bit.

believe sign 16 Now it is time for a little sanding. 

believe sign 12

The edges were lightly sanded to give it a little bit of a distressed look. My original intent was to do more sanding to make it really distressed but then I decided to leave it alone. I think it looks great!

believe sign `14

Here it is hanging out on our front door. You all know I cannot wait to show you a full reveal of our Christmas front porch. But as it is, it is taking me longer to decorate this year with little kids and all kinds of crazy projects! There is also the fact that once I get decorations in place, I got a baby who thinks it is funny to use them as toys and throw everything all over the place!! 

DIY believe sign 2

What do you think? Would you have gone for perfection and through the stress to find vinyl or do you think this painters tape idea worked well enough to call it a sign? I would love to know your thoughts in the comments!

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7 thoughts on “DIY “Believe” Holiday Porch Sign

  1. You did a wonderful job on your BELIEVE sign! I bought one a few years back – each letter is on a different sized block – and it was on clearance. It’s one of my favorite Christmas decor pieces. I don’t think I could do as good of a job as you did. I love it!!

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