JOY Marquee Sign - DIY

This JOY Marquee Sign was the perfect addition to the handmade rustic Christmas décor theme I’ve created in our home last year.

I bought two rectangular pieces of MDF and the MDF trim and cut out my letters and put the sign together and buy lights and all that.

I got a measurement doc from HomeDepot as well .

Step 1:

The first thing I did was use a jigsaw I borrowed from my dad to cut out my letters.

Step 2:

The next thing I decided to do was cut the rectangular piece of MDF I had for the backing down to a smaller size. The plans and measurements for the sign Home Depot uses were great, but the sign was just too big for where I wanted to use it in our home. I felt like a smaller sign over all would look better in our space

Step 3:

After cutting out the letters I used my drill and a 1/2 inch drill bit to drill holes down the center of all three letters. Once I had my holes in my letters I placed them on top of the backing for the sign where I wanted them to be, and made a mark in the center of each hole. I was then able to drill a hole where each mark was. Once all of the holes were drilled both the backing of the sign got painted and the letters.

Step 4:

I attached each of the letters with a few 5/8 of an inch nails using an 18 gauge nail gun I borrowed from my dad. I made sure the hole in the letters aligned with holes in the backing of the sign before nailing them in place. Then I went over the few nail holes with a little filler and paint.

Step 5:

The last step was attaching my trim to go around my sign. I decided to use 1x2’s I cut and stained instead of the MDF trim Home Depot provided. I think it gives the sign a more custom look and fits better with the handmade rustic décor I am using in our home right now. I attached the trim using 1 inch nails and an 18 gauge nail gun.Once the trim was attached I added a strand of Christmas lights to the sign. I pulled the bulbs off of the lights, stuck the green part of the light through the back of the hole and pushed it to the front of the sign where I then reattached the bulb. I could have bought a battery back of lights and used those, but we already had a strand of round Christmas lights from last year that worked perfectly.

THE MEASUREMENTS FOR THE BACKING OF THE SIGN AND THE TRIM AROUND IT THAT I USED ARE RIGHT BELOW: MDF/Plywood backing for the marquee sign 26 inches wide by 19.5 inches tall1x2 wood trim 2 pieces cut to 26 inches in length, and 2 pieces cut to 21 inches in length