DIY Mid-Century Modern House Numbers

A while back I was stolling through a mid-century neighborhood in Austin and noticed this modern address plaque.

I instantly recognized the numbers as Distinctions numbers, but I'd never seen them mounted on a board like that. It got me to thinking, "that looks pretty amazing and pretty easy to do."

So I started cooking up my own DIY mid-century modern house numbers. And I was right, making this modern address number plaque above is super easy. And the finished product looks great. Here's how to make your very own mid-century modern house number kit.

1. Head to Home Depot and buy whatever Distinctions modern address numbers you need.

2. While you're there, buy a board to use as the address plaque. I used a 1" x 6". It's thin, which gives it a nice modern look, and the Distinctions address numbers are about 5" tall, so it gives you a little room above and below, but still keeps it nice and tight. The length will depend on how many numbers and which numbers you have. Ours is 11.5" long.

3. Paint the board. We went with the same color as our trim because we already have a door that pops. But any mid-century modern exterior paint color would work. Depending on the wood quality, you might need a few coats.

4. Layout and attach the numbers. There's a template and instructions in the Distinctions package for doing this. We totally ignored the template and eyeballed it. We also super glued the numbers instead of using the posts that come with Distinctions numbers. We wanted the modern house numbers to be flush to the board. If you do the same, just make sure to use glue that adheres to painted wood and metal.

5. Figure out how you're going to attach it to your house. You could simply nail it if you have wood siding. If you have brick like me, things get a little tricky. You could use an industrial adhesive/caulk or drill into the brick. But that seemed like a lot of work, so I attached a couple of hooks to the top and bought a bit of chain.

6. Then I put a few hooks in the wood ceiling above the porch and hung the address plaque from them.

And here's what our new mid-century modern house numbers look like.

I'm really happy with how they turned out. I think they look great next to our Crestview Door. And even on the Behr Antique Tin gray, they're really easy to see from the street.