When it comes to the bigger decisions in my life I’m quick and decisive. But when it comes to the stuff that doesn’t matter I can dither. With this DIY light box sign, I couldn’t decide on one just one sign.

I ended up making it that the signs were interchangeable. So I could then have as many different signs as I wanted.

My Aunt turned up at Christmas with another one of her wine box gifts from France. I made my son a DIY nightstand with the box she gave me last year. With this year’s wine box, I made a light box.

Use A Wine Box To Make A DIY Light Box Sign

The individual signs were printed on to acetate and the lights used were LEDberg lights from IKEA.

The signs were interchangeable on the light box. I made four different signs to start with.

The first was a fun on-air sign like you’d have in a radio station. The second a colorful bunting sign for celebrations. The third sign was my favorite word and the fourth was a take-out coffee sign.

I think the COFFEE cup is my favorite sign, well it is this week!

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What You need

• Wooden Wine box- I used a six bottle wine box for a large rectangular sign. You could use a single bottle wine box to make a smaller sign.These wine boxes are often available from your local wine merchants sometimes for free. At worst you’ll have to buy some wine and drink it to get the free box.

• IKEA LEDberg Spotlights – other similar spotlights can be used, those with a sticky back that are for cupboards and closets are good too.
• Dark wood wax
• Inkjet Printable Acetate
• Velcro dots and/or double-sided sticky pads.

TOOLS..

• Drill
• Inject Printer
• Hacksaw
• Hot Glue Gun

How to Make A DIY light box Sign

1.. First, the wine box I used for this sign was new, to age the box and give it a more retro look I brushed and buffed it with dark wax. After waxing, the lovely embossed writing on the box was still visible. I think this just added interest to the finished light box sign.

You could leave it how it is, or paint it in a bright colour to fit with your decor. My son wants me to make him one of these signs for his room and I’ll paint that one.

2. Next, drill a hole in the top corner of the wine box, (near the backplate). The hole should be large enough to feed through the wires of the IKEA Ledberg spotlights.

3. Next, place the IKEA Ledberg spotlights inside the box. Fix them to the top of the box using the stick pads provided. Feed the wires through the drilled hole.

4. Next, make a frame mount for the printed light box sign. You can either cut one from the box lid or use scraps of craft wood to make a simple frame.

I made mine from wood scraps glued together with a hot glue gun and then waxed to match the wine box.

Printing the DIY lightbox signs..

5. As I’ve already mentioned, I designed four different signs for my light box. They were all standard computer A4 size. You are welcome to use my designs or make your own.

To use my designs, just click on the title of the one you want. It will open as a new window in your browser.

I used my inkjet printer to print the signs on to the acetate paper. However, when I first printed the signs the colour was not as saturated as I wanted.

The colours were a bit light, to fix this problem I printed 2 copies of the same sign. I then stuck them together. This increased the colour saturation.

On Air Lightbox sign

Coffee Lightbox Sign

Celebration Bunting Sign

Kjempeflott

If you are wondering what the”KJEMPEFLOTT” sign is all about. “KJEMPEFLOTT” is my favourite word, which I use a lot. It is Norwegian and means awesome! You will have to visit Google translate for the pronunciation.

6. Next, stick the acetate sign to the frame using either Velcro dots or double-sided sticky pads. Using these methods to stick the acetate means that the signs are not permanently fixed.

It’s easy to change the signs when you fancy a change. Whilst working in my home office, I use the On Air sign. When it’s someone’s birthday, I change up the lightbox to the bunting sign.

As you can see I had fun designing the different quotes and pictures for the DIY lightbox sign. The Coffee sign is my favourite. I will use the bunting sign for birthdays and other celebrations.

I will design and print off different signs for different holidays, such as a heart for Valentine’s and a tree for Christmas.

Light box sign ideas

What words or phrases would use for your lightbox?

As I mentioned my son wants one for his room. He is big into traveling and I have made many map themed decorations for his room. Such as his map mason jar money banks and map themed pinboard. Keeping with this theme I have designed a “gone wandering sign” for his lightbox.

There are many more ideas for repurposing and upcycling wooden crates and wine boxes here. 

For more sign ideas check out DIYideacenter.com

There are other ways to make illuminated signs for your home using el Wire. This wire comes in loads of wonderful colours and is very affordable. I have used it to make a custom neon sign for my son that spells out his name.

The wire is great fun to use for illuminated string art, like with this neon Valentine’s heart or illuminated pumpkins for Halloween.