You are about to get a front row seat to exactly how cheap and lazy I can be.
We moved into this house in 2007 and I disliked the house number plaque immediately. I remember the first time we came to walk through the house, I tapped it as I walked in the front door and said, “that would have to go right away”.
It’s just soooo not me. Tiles. Flowers.
Nope, I can’t do it.
Except that I did “do it” for 8 years. Because I’m Lazy with a capital L.
I finally had enough, though, and it was time to call in the big guns. Otherwise known as, scrap wood and paint sticks. Because don’t forget, I’m also cheap.
I found these house numbers I liked and went from there finding a piece of scrap wood in our garage that was the right size. I’m not even going to give you measurements for what size I made this, because I know exactly what will happen.
I’ll wake up in a few days from a disgruntled reader who will tell me she measured exactly like I said, but now her numbers don’t fit and she wasted sooo much time and money. Then she’ll proceed to tell me that her address is 56834 Main St. and I’ll have to explain that she shouldn’t have used the same measurements as somebody whose address is 24 and she’ll go “what??? I don’t get it.”
I’m telling you, that would happen. So figure out how many numbers are in your address and just find a piece of wood that fits them! Easy peasy.
Cut your paint sticks to various sizes. Again, I didn’t measure. I just started cutting them and laying them flat on the scrap wood. Once I had most of it filled in, it was easy to trim a few of them so there was a perfect edge.
I had this Modern Masters paint that I’m going to be painting my front door with (soon!). I used this on my scrap wood base and some of the paint sticks so it will coordinate once I do get the door painted. I stained the other paint sticks in 2 different types of stain I had laying around.
Word to the wise, label the backs of your paint sticks with the order they go in. What row number and what position within that row. Seriously. You want to do this.
After everything was dried, I just used wood glue to adhere the paint sticks to the scrap wood. I laid a board on it overnight with some weights to make sure it was nice and stuck there. Just make sure the sticks don’t shift when you’re laying your weights on it.
Then mount your numbers following the directions on the package.
We went from this:
To this:
Just imagine how nice it will look once I get the door painted, the sidelights painted white and that light either replaced or spray-painted oil-rubbed bronze!
Don’t rush me, though, folks. I like to pace myself!
Allison
Sunday 15th of July 2018
I’ve been looking for an inexpensive way to update our house numbers (1 of our four numbers is missing 😂) This is so cool and right up my alley. Thanks for sharing! I love your “don’t worry, just do” style. I’m off to find my numbers and get to work...okay, in the next month or so! Love your green color too.
RAMSIGN
Friday 5th of May 2017
This is a very colorful house number plaque . Really adorable! Amazing what you can do with a few tools and a lot inspiration! Keep up the good craft!
Cheers, Nick
Gildy
Saturday 23rd of July 2016
Hi, I really like this project. I'm trying to do something similar for my house and wanted to know how did you attach the finished plaque to the wall ? Thanks !
Natalie
Tuesday 2nd of August 2016
We just used masonry anchors into the brick. That was what was on the previous number plaque that was there, so we reused them. Hope that helps!
Crystal @ Hello Creative Family
Friday 29th of April 2016
Natalie, this is such a lovely way to personalize your home. I love it!
I included this project in a roundup of some of my favorite DIY and craft projects from people attending SNAP! I’d love for you to take a peek. You can find it here:
http://hellocreativefamily.com/27-diy-projects-from-creative-snap-bloggers/
Best Wishes,
Crystal
Curb Appeal Hacks To Increase Your Home Value
Sunday 3rd of April 2016
[…] crafting with your House Number, we love these Paint Sticks turned into a House Number Plaque from A Turtle’s Life for […]