Large House Numbers
Buy the best large house numbers selected and recommended by interior designers. By Tara Gosselin.
If your exteriors feel a bit bare, some large house numbers can be a smart decorative choice. And we said ‘smart’ because, at the same time, you’ll also be making sure that the mailman and your future guests no longer miss your house. Still, to enhance visibility, it’s important to consider your wall colors, too. Luckily, our experts have found a variety of big house numbers for every possible option.
Large House Numbers
Buying Guide
Tara Gosselin
Interior Design Expert
Tara is a San Antonio-based award-winning landscape architect, writer and educator, passionate about eco-friendly solutions and growing her own food. She knows all it takes to help you create a sustainable backyard retreat that combines blissful charm with a modern take on landscaping.
Many cities, towns, and villages require that house numbers be prominently displayed for the benefit of emergency workers. Large metal house numbers provide a durable and often attractive way to do this. You might think that a metal house number is a metal house number, but you would be wrong. There are variations in size, type of metal, letter style, and even in decorations that are placed on the metal. Some numbers are numerals, and some are written out in words.
There are different ways to mount the numbers. Some are on placards, all as a unit. Some are mounted flush with the house wall, some are attached to rocks or to garden walls and some are placed in a way that they stand out from the wall.
Basic House Numbers
Basic house numbers, mounted flush against the wall, are the simplest of designs. Often using New Times Roman or Bookman style, they are easy to see and to read. They might be chrome, brass, black or white in color, depending on the color of the wall on which they will be mounted and on the taste of the homeowner.
Floating House Numbers
Floating house numbers take the basic large metal house numbers a step further. Using specially developed mounting screws, they are set out from the wall, allowing them to cast shadows. They might sometimes have a special backing to emphasize this, or they might simply be mounted on the wall.
Decorated Enamel Numbers
Metal doesn’t have to be chrome, brass, black or white. It can be decorated in floral or other patterns. Enamel paint is often used to add the decoration, or it can be baked on in factory-applied enamel. Placed on a plain wall, or installed as a floating number, colorfully patterned numbers can really pop visually.
Artfully Rusted
Tall, thick iron letters can be artfully rusted, and then coated with a weather protecting clear coat to keep the rust at an “artful” state. They can give a weathered, time-worn look to a house that’s actually quite new or they can be mounted on cedar siding that has been allowed to weather naturally for a rustic look.
Tooled Metal
Stippling, cross-hatching and other tooled metal work can also give letters a unique, individual look. If the letters are sufficiently large, pictures can even be etched into their surfaces. This is one of those areas where imagination and personal tastes are the only limits.
Whatever style you will put on your house — simple and ordinary or wacky and wild — keep in mind that the bottom line is that the number needs to be easily read – something you will surely want if you or a family member has an emergency and you call for assistance.
Numbers should also be kept clear of encroaching vegetation so that an ambulance or fire truck will not have any difficulty reading them. Beyond that, the style you select is truly up to you.