Adorning our New Home with Uplifting Signs

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Soon after our house fire, we moved into our son’s house with him and our grandkids. My wife had begun planning on buying decorative signs to put in our home. She purchased six picture signs to place in our home when the day came for us to move in.

We were trying to decide how to mount them in our new home that was functional and decorative. I got the idea from a local hotel we stayed at over a year ago. I finally made the time to get my equipment set up in order to begin creating a small shelf-type system to hang them.

I had some scrap material left from when the house was built. I didn’t have any material that was the width I wanted, so, I knew I’d have to rip boards to the desired width, and cut them to the appropriate length.

We purchased a DeWalt 12-Inch Miter Saw with a DeWalt Heavy Duty with Miter Saw Mounting Bracket.

We also decided to buy a DeWalt Table Saw with a DeWalt Table Saw Stand, as I would need to rip the boards down to a smaller size.

Before I could begin cutting the material, I had to measure the signs, as some were longer than others. I measured the length and added an inch to the length. I did this so I could center the sign on the boards, instead of it looking “blocky” sitting even with the shelving.

Next, came measuring the boards in preparation for cutting.

Once I got the measurements, I proceeded to cut them to length, using the miter saw.

Once I had the lengths cut, I took the boards over to the table saw. Before I began ripping the boards, I set the saw for 1/2 an inch depth. A standard 2×4 (which is what I was using) is 1 1/2″ x 3 1/2″, so I used the 1 1/2″ as my base width.

Once all the different size boards were cut, it was time to stain them. I bought Minwax Espresso Stain for our baseboards and window/door trim, and we had more than enough to complete this task. My wife and I really love the deep tone!

I let the boards dry for a few days before I decided to mount them on the walls. As I knew the 2×4 wall studs were 16″ centered, I found the studs and pre-drilled holes so the screws wouldn’t crack the boards. I also used a level to make sure the boards didn’t lean. Once I secured the first board, I pre-drilled holes in another board to attach to the edge of the mounted board, forming an “L” shape shelf.

I know my wife is very happy with how they turned out. Doing this small project has given me some inspiration to do some other home projects.

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