Thursday, February 16, 2017

DIY Letter Board


I've been enjoying all the letter board popularity right now! After searching and pondering for a month, I could not find any option cheaper than upwards of $50. One day, I finally thought to check Pinterest and see if there was a diy option out there.

Success! I came across a couple of posts where bloggers had made their own boards for a fraction of the price. Then I got in my head that I wanted to see how inexpensively I could make it - and this is the result!


I bought this primitive checkerboard probably close to two decades ago! I've only ever used it as a decoration but we were given a homemade checkerboard from some friends at Christmas - so I didn't feel the need to keep this one for possible use. I also liked the distressed edge and how it had a chunky frame around the outside which would suit my purposes.

If you want to try making a letter board, look around your house/thrift store for something with a deep edge. You'll see why in a minute. I made this with a friend and she used a 'thankful' sign turned around backwards for her base.


After gathering your supplies, cut the dowel rods to fit your frame. We each used 5/16" dowels - I used five that were 48" long cut into 8" segments. I'll just direct you to the tutorials we skimmed for doing this. Here is one and another option.

I used linen burlap for my sign and my friend used felt. We found that the felt {which she got at Hobby Lobby} was too thick and we struggled to figure her board out but finally did think of a workable solution though it is not ideal.

The linen was not thick and worked really well. I had the linen left from the fabric cuffs I made for my book last year.

David searched for a good deal on the letters and we found this set on Amazon, they are the 3/4" size and it comes with LOTS of letters! I spray painted mine black while they were still all attached so there is a teeny white dot at the bottom of each one from where I separated them. So far it isn't bugging me, but if it does, I can touch up with Sharpie.


I spent less than $15 to make my sign by only needing the letters and dowels! Yay!





Here are our two boards together! We loved how the two sizes looked next to each other!


Now I get to think of fun sayings to put on it!! Hooray - so excited to have been able to make a fun letter board that was within my budget and used supplies I had on hand.

What saying would you put on a letter board?!

7 comments:

Mrs. Chrissy T said...

Looks great!

Shelby said...

They turned out absolutely fantastic. Love both boards:)

angie said...

I didn't choose a word for 2017, but right now I feel like I need to be more intentional. So, I think that would be the word I'd choose for a letter board. Yours was a successful DIY!

Debbie Fisher (debbiedee) said...

i love this idea! thank you for sharing links on how to make one. the two boards together look really good. maybe you'll have to make another one ;)

Elise said...

That is a fantastic DIY!!!! How do the letters stick on, though?

Mom said...

These turned out cute! :)

Lai said...

This is amazing! Nice share!