How to Decorate with Wood Signs

Wood signs with custom lettering, images, and quotes are very trendy in home decor right now. I see them all over Instagram and with so many Etsy shops and talent out there, the options are endless. If you’re like me, you’ve probably wanted them all. I found myself with more signs than I could imagine and wondered if anyone else felt overwhelmed when it came to decorating with signs. So, I thought this little blog post might help someone. 🙂 I’ve also started a new series on the blog called Tuesday Trend, so every Tuesday I’ll be sharing something that is popular in home decor or items that I love.

(all of these signs are from William Rae Designs and post contains affiliate links, see disclosure)

1. Keep it simple

Keep the focus on the sign, especially if it is a large one. In our laundry room the farmhouse sign is perfect against the shiplap. Simple decor like the topiaries and tobacco baskets enhance the vignette instead of distract from it. Keeping it simple not only applies to each vignette but also to each room. One to three signs per room (depending on how big the room is) is just enough, unless you like to have your friends and family walking around like its a museum and stopping to read each sign. 🙂 That may or may not have happened to us!

2. Group them together

But if you have a lot of wood signs already, try grouping them together. Signs that are similar or have a similar look are best placed in a group or gallery wall. These butcher block signs worked great in our dining room as we were transitioning to the farmhouse dining room we have now.

This tip also works for signs of a similar theme. In our master bedrooom the theme is love of course, so I always put those type of signs in our bedroom. The Love You sign is on Joe’s nightstand and Love Never Fails is next to our sliding barn door. Perfect for us!

3. Try Signs on a Table instead of a Wall

With smaller signs I like to place them on a table or shelf for a more causal look. This works best for signs with quotes, like my Alice in Wonderland sign in my office space.

This family sign is one of my favorites and because its smaller, its perfect in our entry way on our ikea dressers. Again, I’ve kept the vignette simple so all the focus is on the sign. Using signs on tables is also great if you love to switch up your decor often. This area of our home probably gets updated and re-decorated every few weeks, and if I was hanging signs on the wall I’d have a lot more holes to fill!

4. place them with similar items

In our kitchen, the dairy sign with the cow looks great on our open shelving and next to my cow creamer. In fact, these shelves carry on a whole dairy theme with a milk bottle, milk carton, creamer, etc. So placing this sign here was an obvious choice.

Another obvious placement for a wood sign, is our Home sign. It’s in the entryway and the first thing we see after a long day. I’ve always kept a home or welcome theme in our entryway because it just feels natural.

5. think outside the box

Just because a sign has a certain theme, wording or quote doesn’t always mean it will look best in that space. Sometimes, its more fun to think outside the box. With our Farmer’s Market sign, I originally thought it would go in the kitchen. However, when decorating my diy potting bench (post coming soon) I wanted a cute sign for one of the shelves and thought the farmers market sign would work great. Now of course there’s no farmers market in our backyard, but there is a garden so that counts right? Even if the arrow is pointing in the wrong direction. 🙂

Decorating with wood signs is so much fun and adds a little charm to a space! I had the pleasure of being a brand rep for William Rae Designs these last few months and their work is very high quality and the design options are endless.

Also, check out a few of my other favorite Etsy shops for wood signs:

Art By Kelly

Eventually Cottage

Vine + Branches

Between Me and You

Little Bits of Everything