Outdoor Christmas Countdown Marquee Sign

What better way to count the days until Christmas than with a Giant Outdoor Christmas Countdown Marquee Sign!

Yesterday I shared a sneak peek to this FABULOUS DIY Christmas Project! I just couldn’t keep it to myself any longer. It’s one of those ”I can’t wait to share it!” kinda of projects.

So you can imagine how excited I am to share the tutorial with you. SO EXCITED!

Ready to check out how we put this Outdoor Christmas Countdown Marquee Sign together? Awesome, let’s get to it! 

Since making this Outdoor Christmas Countdown Marquee Sign, I have made lots more DIY Christmas Countdowns. So many that I now have a collection of them!

This post also contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Outdoor Christmas Countdown Marquee Sign

Wood:

• Background: Piece of Plywood 1/2″ thick 26″ x 36″
• Plaques for Numbers: 7 pieces of Plywood 1/2″ thick 8″ x 11″
• Frame: Wood 1″ 2x 27″ x 3.5″ and 2x 30″ x 3.5″

Supplies:

Lettering that I printed and blew up with my photocopier.
Fonts we used along with size:

• Christmas: Mission Script – 17 1/4″ wide
• Days: Mission Script – 5 1/2″ wide
• Countdown: Franchise – 17 1/4″ wide
• Numbers 0 to 9: Verdana – 7 3/4″ high

Paint colors:

• Frame and Plaques: BEHR Black Pearl – T16-01
• Background and Numbers: BEHR Bungalow Beige – HDC-AC-10
• Christmas: BEHR Forbidden Red – PPU1-10
• Countdown and Days: BEHR Portsmouth Olive – HDC-CL-20

• Graphite Paper – Black for background and White for plaques.
• Paint brushes
• Hooks (4) for the plaques
• Screws
• Lights – We used lights that we bought at Target last year (before they closed here in Canada). It’s a set of 25 bulbs that screw on and off. We removed one the bulbs so that we would have an even 24 lights around the sign.
• Fastening System to attach the sign to the wall. We used hooks that can handle 25 lbs.
• Pencil
• Clamps
• Ruler and/or tape measure
• Staples

Optional if you have a plate joiner:

• Glue
• Biscuits

Tools:

– Circular Saw
– Palm Sander
– Drill and/or drill press
– Plate joiner (optional)

Instructions:

Step 1: We started off by cutting all the pieces of wood we needed for the sign: background, frame, and plaques. We then proceeded to sand all the pieces until they were nice and smooth.

Step 2: Once all the pieces were ready, we used our plate joiner along with glue, biscuits, and clamps to make the frame.

Our DIY Screen Door post explains quite well how to make sure the frame is nice and square.

Step 3: Time to paint the background, frame, and plaques.

For the frame and plaques, I used the same staining technique that I used on the Arrow Wall Decor.

Step 4: Once the pieces were painted, I placed the printouts onto the background in order to see how everything was going to look.

Step 5: Time to trace all the numbers onto the 7 plaques.

I traced numbers on the front and back of the plaques by taping the numbers onto the plaques and placing white graphite paper between the numbers and plaques.

I then proceeded by tracing the outline of the numbers with a pencil, by doing so the graphite paper transferred the outline onto the plaques.

Here are the number combinations I did: 1-2, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-3, 0

Once all the numbers were traced, we painted them. When I say ”we” I mean my sister Emily! Thanks Em!

Step 6: Using the same tracing technique, I traced Christmas, Countdown, and Days onto the background using black graphite paper.

Step 7: We attached the frame to the background by using screws.

Yes, we could have used glue and nails, however I opted for screws in case that some day we need to change the frame to adapt to new lighting.

Step 8: We used the drill press to drill two holes per plaque.

Once all the holes were drilled, we placed two plaques onto the background and used an awl to make markings onto the background where we were to screw on hooks.

The hooks we picked out did not have big enough openings, so we used pliers to pry them open a little more.

More steps will continue after this little break. I figured that perhaps some of you would like to see the Days Until Christmas Sign without lights, so we went ahead and placed two numbers on it and attached it to the wall so that you can see what it looks like without lights.

I think it looks quite fabulous even without lights. However the lights do add the perfect finishing touch. :) Ok, so let’s proceed with the installation of the lights.

Step 9: We made 24 markings on the frame and proceeded to drill holes using a bit just a tad bit bigger than the width of the lights.

Step 10: We inserted the light strand and our little Emanuelle screwed on each light bulb. We also stapled the strands onto the back of the sign.

Ready to see the Outdoor Christmas Countdown Marquee Sign?
I hope so!!

Here it is when it’s not lit:

And here is the beautiful Christmas Countdown Sign all lit up:

Isn’t it absolutely WONDERFUL?!

You better say yes! I’m so HAPPY with it! It turned out just like I wanted.

By using a light background and light colors on the plaques, the lights make the lettering and numbers show up crystal clear. Perfect outdoor Christmas sign!

What do you think? Please tell me you love it as much as I do?
If you love it too, please feel free to PIN and/or Share with your friends. :)

Find more ideas here: Christmas Projects.

P.S. Thanks Sébastien, Emily, Mom, Dad, and Ema for helping me put this super cool Christmas project together!