House Numbers - 6 Things to Keep in Mind When Choosing the Right Ones
A postman walks into a bar… because he couldn’t find your house. Just kidding. But in all seriousness, choosing the right style, size and color of house number is important. It’s often the first hint of your design aesthetic people see when arriving at your home. And then there are the obvious points that it’s how people find your home in the first place, so the Old Goats team believes in spending some time helping our customers choose the right style. When we do, here are a few things we encourage people to consider:
Existing Design Regulations - If you’re in a more urban or metro area, or live in a neighborhood that has a design review board or home owners’ association, it’s definitely worth checking to see if you there are any design guidelines you need to follow.
Size - Big. Small. Subtle. Bold. Size matters when it comes to choosing the right home address numbers. Typically, we recommend not going any smaller than four inches tall. Seven inches is a good height for legibility. This allows for easy spotting from the end of a driveway or cruising along your street.
Font - Again, this might be dictated by your neighborhood’s existing design guidelines. Beyond that, the font you choose can say a lot about your design aesthetic as well as the style and location of your home. Fonts are typically categorized into two buckets — serif and sans serif. Serif fonts are just that, they have a serif, which can look like little tails or feet at the beginning and/or end of each stem of a letter. Sans serif fonts, as the name obviously suggests lack serifs. Serif fonts might be thought of as more traditional or calligraphic while sans serif fonts tend to look more sleek and modern. Another thing to consider when choosing the font is its width. Are letters and numbers uniform in width? Do they vary? Does that matter when trying to align an address on a piece of wood or metal? It’s up to you, but all of these decisions are important to think about.
Material - Typically, prefabricated house numbers come in some sort of metal. Brass in a variety of finishes is a pretty popular choice. You can also go a little more traditional with wood, however, wood is less resistant to weather and sun damage.
Color - As mentioned above, brass house numbers can be finished in a variety of styles, such as black, silver, chrome, brushed nickel, etc. And obviously, wood can be painted any color your heart desires. This can be a fun pop of color or something more subtle that is still easy to see and read, but blends with the design aesthetic of your home.
Placement - And finally, placement. It might go without saying, but where you mount your home address numbers can make a big difference in how useful they are to your visitors — or that postman looking for your mailbox. Keep in mind that many people looking for your home will be in a vehicle, so a little higher than normal eye level. Additionally, place them near an exterior light, or shine an exterior light onto the numbers, to make sure they can be seen at night. Don’t place them so close to a light source that the light washes them out, and avoid putting them somewhere they might be obscured by seasonal decorations, flags or string lights.
At Old Goats, we feature a variety of high-end home hardware brands from which you can choose. Make an appointment at our design studio to see which number styles, fonts and finishes grab your eye and help set the stage for your style.