The Simple House Number Woodworking DIY That Will Add To Your Curb Appeal

Pop quiz! What's the first thing about your home that a new visitor focuses on? For most people, it's the house numbers on your home or mailbox. It's how they find you the first time, and it's a rare opportunity to make a first impression with something that you can completely control yourself. TikTok DIYer Elise Munson (@homewithwoodandwhiskey) makes the most of this by DIYing a gorgeous and very polished number plaque using a few materials and a good eye for style.

Munson's house numbers are four digits in a thin sans-serif black typeface with midcentury and Art Deco roots. Thin, modern typefaces are currently popular, but beefier sans-serif faces like Helvetica tend to be more readable at a distance. Services like CraftCuts will make customized numbers for you in your choice of font and material, or you could try laser-cutting your own. Munson chose Distinctions 5-inch black floating house numbers, $6.55 from Amazon. The numbers stand off from a stained-wood background and are framed with wood painted matte black. Against the white painted brick of her house, the number plaque is striking, and the house number is placed in the best spot for maximum curb appeal. It's modern and grounded by the natural materials and the texture of the wood background, lending it both warmth and refinement. Her TikTok followers were duly impressed, with many offering to buy a plaque in this style from her for their own homes.

Munson's project is straightforward, though it does require a few common woodworking tools. She begins by cutting strips of what appears to be furring at 45 degrees and mounting them on a piece of ¼-inch pine plywood. The wood is mounted with its striated underside facing out, which emphasizes the pattern and adds texture. The furring is arranged in a downward-pointing chevron pattern, then trimmed to 6 inches wide on a table saw. She stains the furring with Varathane American Walnut. This assembly is framed in 1-by-2 wood painted with chalk paint in a black color. She then mounts the numbers, waterproofs the plaque with spar urethane, and mounts it next to her front door using Ook D-Ring Hangers (similar to these from Amazon).

You could customize this approach in several ways, perhaps varying the plaque's pattern or palette. It's important to make sure there's enough contrast between the numbers and the background that they remain readable, and it helps if there's contrast between the plaque and the wall on which it's mounted. If you like the chalk paint look, you can buy other colors or make your own DIY chalk paint by adding baking soda with flat latex paint. The size of your plaque should be driven by its distance from the road, from 3 inches to 10 inches or more. Munson is planning to add a solar backlight to the numbers to make them pop even more, especially at night.