DIY Wood Marquee Sign

I hung some art in our dining room / my office when we moved in, and every time I looked at it, I felt like it needed a little something more. I decided to make a wooden marquee sign because really, who doesn't love marquee signs? I wanted to make it out of wood, to change it up a bit from the norm. Then came the question of what the sign should say. I decided on "Whistle" because it's one of my favorite sounds, when people whistle it reminds me of my Poppop and always makes me smile. Plus it's a saying for an office, reminding me to "whistle while I work"! See all the photos and the full "how to" below.

Above is a better pic of me working away in our dining room/ office before I met with a new client last weekend. Now, onto the "how-to"! All I have yet to do is buy a pretty cloth covered extension cord so it looks nice and I can plug it in! Just a heads up, this is the kind of project where some wood working skills are probably necessary! I usually try to keep it easy so that anyone can do it, but that just wasn't going to happen this time around!

Supplies:

1. Wood, I used oak, but I would actually suggest pine, because finishing all the edges on the oak was a pain in the patoot because it's such a hard wood.
2. Round string lights, I got mine from Target, it's a string of 25 lights, so I had to make sure that 25 lights would make sense on the word I chose, so keep that in mind!
3. Hanging hardware

Tools:

1. Jig saw
2. Router
3. Drill
4. File
5. Sandpaper
6. Staple Gun

Process:

1. Print out your word to scale and lay it out on the wood, trace with pencil.
2. Rough cut with a jig saw or band saw. I rough cut it first, then went back in to get closer
3. Use a rough file to clean up the edges
4. Using a router, round top edges
5. Go back in with a finer file and sand paper to finish out all the edges, the router usually can't get in the tight corners. 
6. Drill holes for the lights. On the lights that I bought, there was a little clip on each one, I broke that off so that they would be round and fit into the holes I drilled perfectly.
7. Take out bulbs, insert all the light sockets into the holes.
8. Attach hanging hardware, measure up from the bottom so that it hangs level, I put mine on the H and L
9. Staple down all the wires so that they are hidden when you hang the sign
10. Screw in all the light bulbs
11. Hang it up and enjoy!