I have been busy working on house projects galore! The list doesn’t seem to get any smaller. But during these times of COVID-19 they keep me out of trouble. This week I finished a new address sign for the front of the house. I had replaced the front porch light, and in doing so I ended up covering up the numbers. I also didn’t like the numbers that were there to begin with. I think they were dated.

The picture on the left is the original light and number sign. It wasn’t pretty. The sensor was broken, and I wanted something that included an electrical outlet attached since I don’t have any outlets on the front of the house. The picture on the right, has the new light, which covered most of the numbers. You can barley see the numbers when you’re standing on the porch. If you’re on the road they’re even more difficult to see.

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After seeing these numbers on my brother and sister-in-laws house, I picked up some them for my own sign. I like that they are larger, and much more modern looking.

Items Needed

• House Numbers
• Wood – I used 1×3 and 1×2
• Miter Saw
• Drill
• Nails
• Screws
• Dremel cut blade
• Level

I knew that I wanted to create a sign that felt true to my style and not just put the numbers on the siding. So I did a little Pinterest search to get some inspiration. After finding my inspiration, I started by getting a measurement of the front of the house where the new address sign would go. That part of the wall, measured 26 inches. With that in mind, I laid out the templates that came with each number so that I knew how much space the numbers would take up.

With the measurement of the wall and the length of the numbers, I knew I didn’t want my sign to be any more than 24 inches. I could have gone the easy route and just cut straight lines but I thought cutting the wood at 45 degree cuts gave the sign something extra. I did a drawing to get a layout of how I wanted the wood to be cut.

Once I had the rough layout, I cut the wood. The hardest was getting the small corner pieces cut. I did get it right after the third try. Once I had the wood cut, I laid it out and laid the numbers on top. just to make sure everything still looked good.

With everything looking good, I drilled pocket holes on the back of each of wood and screwed the pieces together and added wood glue for good measure. With the sign mostly put together. I laid out the templates and taped it down. I had a big decision to make. I could either have the numbers lay flat against the board or I could have them sitting slightly off the board. I chose to have them sit off the board. I took a nail and hammer and tapped the center of the X in each of the holes. Then I drilled holes for the pegs to go.

After giving the sign a light sanding, I stained the boards. I used Jacobean (one of my favorites) and brushed it on with a foam brush. I didn’t let the stain sit too long. I wiped away the extra stain after about 5 minutes. I ended up staining the whole sign, front, back, and edges since it will be out in the weather. After the stain was dried, I applied two layers of Tough Coat by Fusion Mineral Paint. Once the tough coat was dry, I slid the pegs into the predrilled holes. The pegs were a little bit longer than the thickness of the boards, so I needed to use my Dremel to cut the excess off.

Now that most of the sign was complete, I cut the pieces for the frame. I sanded each piece, and painted them using Fusion Mineral Paint’s French Eggshell. I applied two coats of the paint, lightly sanding between each coat. Once the paint was dry, I applied two coats of tough coat. After the Tough Coat was applied, I assembled the sign, and drilled a hole on each side of the sign in order to attach the sign to the house. O

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Once the sign was complete, Saturday I grabbed my drill, two construction screws, and level and went to attach the sign. I lined up the left side of the address sign with the mail slot since the light wasn’t completely centered. I screwed in one side and made sure the sign was level. When it looked good, I screwed in the other side.

I removed the old sign and under it you could see where additional numbers once were. I think replacing that piece of siding might be the best. Once spring comes I will have to give the siding a good cleaning. It’s a little dirty around the mail slot. I think I might paint that when the weather is nicer too. We even got a little bit of snow Sunday, which looks nice.

It feels good to keep ticking things off my list. What about you?