Make your house number stand out with these easy tips
- Written by Simon McIntyre
House numbers provide a crucial finishing touch when it comes to the overall look of your home. Visibility is a huge thing to keep in mind when buying and installing house numbers for a few reasons. Emergency personnel, mail delivery and even guests to your home need visible numbers that are large enough and well-placed in order that they can be easily read and identified.
Many large hardware stores, even those that are very popular and well trafficked, have a limited array of house number sizes and styles to choose from.
We want to help you find the best house numbers for your home and your particular style. Here are 5 key features to keep in mind when shopping for house numbers that will certainly help with visibility:
1. Distance between the street and the home should be taken into consideration.
2. Contrasting colours help to improve visibility as does consideration of the mounting surface.
3. Font style is crucial for readability.
4. Where numbers are located.
5. Clear sight lines.
Distance From Your Home to the Street
It stands to reason that the further from the street your home is, the larger the numbers need to be. For homes that are very far from the street, larger numbers are going to make it easier for those driving past and those looking for house numbers to actually be able to tell what your house number is.
In order to determine how far from the street your home is, or at the very least how far from the street the location of the numbers is going to be, measure from the mounting location to the rough centre of the road. This is where most visitors and other individuals looking for your home are going to be.
A rough estimate of needed size would be as follows:
0-20 meters, 10 cm or larger
20-35 meters, 15 cm or larger
35-50 meters, 20 cm or larger
50-65 meters, 30 cm or larger
65-100 meters, 40 cm or larger
For longer distances you may need to install a house number marker out closer the road
The size of a house number is measured from top to bottom. A large house number is going to be easier to see from any distance.
Contrasting Colours Make Numbers Stand Out
Another factor to consider is the colour of the house number and the location where it is going to be placed. Contrasting colours are going to make the numbers pop and help them stand out from the background of the area where they have been mounted.
It is important to take the time to look at the colour of the area where you are planning on putting your house number, then consider what a contrasting colour might be for your numbers. Numbers that are too close to the colour of the mounting surface are likely to get lost and may be hard to read from the road.
You also have to consider the fact that someone looking for your home is likely to be actively driving, this means they may be driving at a speed that makes it hard to take their eyes off the road, there may be other drivers behind them preventing them from slowing down, there may be lighting issues, weather and so on. You want to make sure that you have a number that is going to be different enough from the colour of the mounting surface that it catches the eye and is easy to differentiate.
Things to keep in mind:
For dark coloured mounting surfaces - choose numbers that are brightly coloured or that are light in colouring. Aluminium, white powder coat or matt house numbers are best.
For light coloured mounting surfaces - dark house numbers, even matt black are going to contrast nicely.
There are also house numbers that are illuminated, or you may want to add a light to the area that you are mounting your house numbers.
Font Matters, Pretty May Not Be Best
Though you might be tempted to choose a font that is pretty or ornate, it is much better go with something practical and easy to read. Decorative fonts are certainly pretty, they can add something special to your home, but they can also be difficult to read, especially from a long distance or from a moving car.
Thick fonts that are straightforward and simple are going to universally easy to read and recognize. Something like Helvetica is a great font that is universally recognized and that is also very thick and bold.
If you are determined to have a font that is thinner, that may be hard to read, or that is not typical in order to ensure it looks better on your home, you should try to ensure that it is large enough and that the colour stands out to help with readability.
Number Location
Another factor to keep in mind when choosing your house numbers is where they are going to be mounted. Are they being mounted on your home? Are they going on a mailbox or a post near the road? Are they going to be on the porch? These can all affect what type of numbers you need.
If you are putting the number on the home directly above the door for example, you want to make sure they are large enough to see from the road. If you are placing them on a post near the road or a mailbox, you may be able to use smaller numbers.
Clear Sightlines
The last tip that we want to share when choosing the right house numbers is to keep in mind that you should have your number clearly displayed and sightlines should be clear. Things like trees, shrubs, your car when parked in front of your home and so on are not going to block the view of your house numbers.
Ensuring that there are no things blocking your house number can also dramatically improve the overall visibility of your house numbers. Doing all you can to make sure they are easy to see and read can surely help visitors to your home find the right house the first time.
Summary
House numbers are an essential part of any home. Making sure that they are easy to see can make all the difference. To get a feel for what house numbers might look like:
1. Type your house number in different fonts and sizes in a manner that appeals to you.
2. Print the numbers in a colour that is similar to the location where you are mounting them.
3. Tape them up and see how they look from different distances and at different times of day.
This simple process will give you a good idea of what your numbers might look like and can help you decide what is going to work best for you.
For more information or for help choosing your house numbers, feel free to contact us today!
House Numbers is a Mornington Peninsula based business producing modern styled house numbers in the highest quality available in Australia. House numbers are available in a range of modern fonts, carefully selected to suit any house style. All numbers are produced with 8mm solid premium aluminium with a choice of finishes for a beautiful and high quality product. You can see more here.
