DIY Wall Scroll Holder

Have you ever considered making a scroll hanger? If not I hope you do, they are so very handy to have. Pricey farmhouse gift shops are not the only place you see these pretty and functional brown paper scroll signs and holders.  They are so popular for farmhouse decor and no wonder, they are both adorable and functional.  This DIY Farmhouse paper scroll sign and holder is large enough to be artwork, or you can use it for organizing a family.  This Christmas I placed it in our front foyer as artwork and will show you how to make one on your own including adding calligraphy of your own choosing.  Its large, bright, and I think really pretty with its white framing. You may have seen these online for up to $200, but you can DIY this nicer one for about $50, if you have to purchase everything.

Paper Scroll Holder Supplies

How to Make a Wooden Scroll Holder Directions

Cutting the Wood and Moulding

The two pieces of side moulding are absolutely flat.  You can choose any moulding you like, but make sure it is 3″ wide and both edges are square.  The square edges mean no fancy cuts, and it gives you a chalk or pen ledge once the board is finished.

Start by cutting all your wood to the dimensions listed above, except for the 1″ flat moulding.  You will fit that cross piece in after.   All the edges are simple square cuts, I was able to cut all of my moulding at the store, except for the plywood which I already had at home.

Lay the plywood flat good face up and sand it as smooth as possible using 120 and then 150 grit sand paper.  Place all your moulding on top.  Make sure that the top and bottom pieces of moulding are arranged  so the flat edge faces inwards.

Line the moulding up so that its all square and neat.  Do not worry if it goes over the sides of the plywood. (see bottom blue arrow)

Once you have them where you like, clamp in place.  Take One piece off at a time, glue the back with wood glue then clamp back into place.    I only had three clamps so I did half the moulding, let it dry and then did the remaining moulding.   (Notice the cross piece is a bit long which is perfect as I need to fit it in. )

Once you have the moulding attached, flip over and nail the plywood to the moulding with small 1/2″ finishing nails.  The nails need to be small enough that they don’t protrude through the front of the moulding.

Measure and fit the wood cross piece between the two side mouldings.  Don’t attach yet.

Attaching the Paper Cutter

This part of the project took me a few minutes to come up with.  You have a couple of choices for how you do this part.

You absolutely want to have a cross piece on the holder.  It makes the bottom of the paper stay neat and tiny and not curl up.

If you have little ones at home that may touch the blade I suggest installing the cross piece but skip adding a blade.

You could use the metal cutting edge from the large tin foil box, or freezer paper box.

Unfortunately neither my tin foil or freezer paper boxes had a metal edge,  but Hub’s donated two old hack saw blades he had hidden in the garage.  It was awesome the way he donated them to the cause.

Whether or not you use the hack saw blades or the other two idea, you want to place two screws on the underside of the cross piece.  My screws had large heads but were only 1/4″ long so that they didn’t pop through the wood.  The space caused by the screw head gives a little bit of distance for the paper to fit behind the cross piece.

If your using a box blade or two hack saw blades, glue them to the back side of the cross piece.  My DIY scroll hanger used two hack blades so it was screwed on at both ends and then glued towards the middle.  I then clamped the center and let the glue dry.

Painting the Paper Scroll Hanger

Paint the paper scroll hanger and the wood cross piece with two coats of white paint.  You can use whatever paint you like working with.  Mine is Benjamin Moore Super White latex I had on hand.  Let dry and well between coats.

DIY Scroll Art for Hanger

A scroll hanger is very handy to have in the home for a variety of uses. You can use it in the office as a bulletin board. Its great for in the homework area. I have one in the craft room, and will be placing this one in the garage once we move. You can dress them up with some DIY scroll art to show off your newly built piece like we did here, or you can make them an attractive organizational tool anywhere you want to leave a message, or work collaboratively and make notes.

Decide whatever wording you like and using Picmonkey, Microsoft Word, or Google Documents design your wording on letter sized template in landscape.  Print it out.

Using the print out as your guide,  using chalk to add the lettering to your scroll art.  I have a cloth pot scrubber that worked perfectly as a chalk eraser.

Once done you can go over the lettering with a market, but I liked the white chalk so kept it as is.

I love this farmhouse scroll sign as I can use it year around.  Quick updates for any holiday season, reducing my want for all sorts of wood lettering signs.  I have quite the collection of homemade seasonal artwork that I love and use, but the brown paper signs are updateable.  I know this one is going to be useful for a long time.