A little sign of summer: DIY garden signs

11 Feb 2026

Brighten up your garden and give it a bit of personality with these cheerful hand painted signs. Made from simple fence palings and painted in bold, happy colours, they are an easy way to add charm, colour and a smile to your outdoor space.

You will need:

• 1-2 fence palings, 140mm wide x 19mm thick x 1.8m long (the more palings the more signs you can make)
• Jig saw
• Sandpaper
• Resene Quick Dry
• Paintbrush
• Electric drill and galvanised screws
• H3 treated post, 45mm x 45mm x 1.8 long
• Resene Woodsman Penetrating Oil Stain in the colour Bark
• Resene testpots in your chosen colours. Fleur used Resene Kingfisher Daisy, Pursuit, Scrumptious, Green Leaf, Rice Cake, Blumine, Glamour Puss, Licorice, Pirate Gold, Black, Bright Red and Apache

Step 1: Cut the fence palings into similar lengths with a jig saw. You can also cut the ends wonky so that the signs look more rustic. Sand rough edges smooth and wipe away any dust.

Step 2: Prime the signs with one coat of Resene Quick Dry. Once the primer is dry, apply two coats of your base coat colours. Fleur used Resene Kingfisher Daisy, Pursuit, Scrumptious, Green Leaf, Rice Cake and Blumine.

Step 3: Embellish to your hearts content with words and motifs, such as flowers, rainbows, bees, hearts and stars. For Fleur’s signs, she used:

‘Welcome’ – Kingfisher Daisy and Glamour Puss.

‘To My Garden’ – Pursuit and Licorice.

Flowers – Scrumptious, Pirate Gold, Rice Cake and Green Leaf.

‘Bee Happy’ – Green Leaf, Black, Pirate Gold and Rice Cake.

‘Stay and Enjoy’ – Rice Cake, Bright Red, Pursuit and Pirate Gold.

Sun – Blumine, Pirate Gold and Apache.

Step 4: Use an electric drill and galvanised screws to attach the signs to an H3 treated pine post that has been stained with one coat of Resene Woodsman Penetrating Oil Stain in the colour Bark. Either dig a hole or bang the post into the ground about 500mm deep.

project and images Fleur Thorpe

Published: 11 Feb 2026