13 Unique Materials for Making Farmhouse Signs

Farmhouse style signs may be all the rage, but to buy an authentic antique example would cost a pretty penny. Today I’m going to share with you thirteen unique materials for making farmhouse signs.

I’ll also provide links to each post where I used the specific materials myself. Most of them are either hanging in my own home, or I’ve sold through my antique booth or other selling platform.

1. Chair Seat

What makes this chair seat so amazing, of course, is the wonderful paint splatter. Clearly, before it fell apart, this chair was integral to someone’s painting process.

I stumbled across it–as is–at a local garage sale. The owners laughed at me when I asked how much.

“A dollar,” they said, “but what are you going to do with it?!!” “I have no idea,” I replied. Many months later, inspiration struck, and a sign was born.

2. Cutting Board

Almost any cutting board can be turned into a sign, including those cut into various shapes. Now that I’ve planted the idea in your head, you’ll never look at a cutting board the same way again(!). 

You could stencil a board shaped like a pig with the [cruel] word “bacon” or a butterfly with the word “fly” for a little girl’s room. There are so many possibilities!

What makes this board especially unique, is the drip line all the way around the outer edge. It’s perfect for creating a “natural” outline for your sign. See how I turned this board into a vintage inspired sign.

3. Screen Window Frame

I came across this pile of worn and chippy goodness at a cute gift shop in the Glens Falls (NY) called, The Fox & the Chicken Coop.

I popped in a couple of years ago on my family’s annual “Ladies Day Out.” The aqua paint on the screen window alone would have sold me, but the $2 price tag clinched the deal.

Can you guess how I took the window apart and reconfigured the frame to create a fantastic sign?

4. Cupboard Door

Okay, using cupboard doors for signs isn’t all that unique, but they are so fantastic and so perfectly sized for signage, that I couldn’t leave them off the list.

5. Enamelware Cooking Sheet

Most metal baking pans or cookie sheets would be far too boring to turn into a sign, but an enameled one? All midnight blue and white spattered? Now there’s an unusual material for you.

The surface was perfect for stenciling and the result pure farmhouse. I never wrote a post about this one, but you get the idea. 

6. Fence Pickets

With their pointy ends, fence pickets make wonderful directional signs. I often find suitable pieces in junk piles on the side of the road or next to houses holding estate sales. 

You can make signs to point to the garden or the cabin or anything your heart desires. I turned mine into herb signs and some others into garden signs.

7. Ironstone Platter

Ironstone platters are one of my favorite materials for making farmhouse signs, particularly ones that have some damage and would not otherwise be used for their intended purpose, like the one you see here.

I make several ironstone platter signs every year to sell at the Shaker craft fair ($28-35)and I always write one word.

8. Crate Lid

I bought an antique crate a while back, thinking it was salvageable. It was not. However, I hung onto the lid for a while, and it finally dawned on me that I could make a very cool sign out of it.

And that’s what I did. I stenciled my favorite Thanksgiving/Christmas time word on it and it sold quickly at my Christmas craft fair for $35.

9. Bench “Leg”

This hunk of scrap wood was also part of something I thought I could save–an antique bench.

Again, it was a no-go, but this piece, on its own, made the perfect shabbilicious sign. I don’t think you could recreate this perfection of pink, moss green, and rust if you tried!

10. Taping Knife

Making a sign with this taping knife surely falls into the category of uniquely creative ideas, and I have to say, it received lots of attention at the time that I posted about it. I’m now in the habit of looking at old tools as canvases for my sign making.

11. Window

This storm window allowed me to create perhaps my very favorite sign ever. Stenciling on glass is tricky, but it can be done.

The results were pretty spectacular, and hooks attached along the bottom made it even more appealing. I sold it from my antique booth for $45.

12. Window Vent

I made a sign from an old window vent, and it definitely marks my absolute most creative upcycle.

It resulted in another very popular blog post and sold (for a special price to my antique shop owner’s wife) for $20, down from $30. Farmhouse Style magazine featured it a while ago.

13. Side of an Apple Crate

Final Fabulous Sign: I came across a couple of fallen apart apple crates at an estate sale a couple of years ago. I picked up all the side pieces because their design attracted me. 

The two trimmed out edges create a frame of sorts that makes it unique. And I left the nails around the edges–more uniqueness(!).

I hope you enjoyed these thirteen different materials that can be used for farmhouse sign making. You probably have one or more of them in your house somewhere. Why not get your DIY on and make a sign or two?