Vinyl stickers...

My neighbor has 8" tall vinyl stickers on the clear window of their front door. It looks really good. I'll try to get a photo tomorrow.

How would decorative, vinyl, numbers look attached to the outside of the storm door, a bit below the front door window???

These come in "silver" or "gold" leaf-look finishes.

Glad to see you back Caroline. Hope all goes well with your therapy.

Getting back to your question:

First off, is this the only place you will have numbers to identify your address? If so, it needs to be very visible from the street.

I think black numbers against your light siding would show up better than the metal ones.

I like numbers to go horizontal.

I don't like kitchy. So for me, I don't like the flower boxes attached to the numbers.

Hi Eld, Yes, these are the only address numbers I'll have. We don't have a mailbox; everyone in this town must have a box at the Post Office. No home delivery at all. It can be aggravating at times. We don't have a street curb so there's really no where else to mark the numbers.

I was thinking of using a dark reddish brown background/board and putting the stainless numbers on this board. I do think horizontal would be more readable from the street. And DH will vote with you to nix the window box!

If I get time tomorrow I'm going to mock-up a cardboard plague in both vertical an horizontal views and "try it on." I'll use black marker on one side for the numbers, and foil on the other.

The numbers I have are 5" tall, but I could get bigger ones.

gee, i don't have my numbers out. used to be vinyl stick ons on the mail box but they've long been destroyed by the weather...

I guess I 'm so well known everyone knows where to find me... (just kidding!)

how about putting it on the siding strip below your light fixture? that way, at night it could be seen too.

There appears to be a dark trim around the front door, yes? I love the idea of a black backboard with the numbers vertical and your plaque at the bottom (or top) of the board, to the right of the front door. That would be very clean looking. I agree no planter box. It can get tired looking very quickly plus with that wide soffit, you would have to water it all the time. If you wanted to, you could frame it like a picture.

What did you decide, Caroline?

I find a vertical arrangement hard to read, especially in a time-sensitive, emergency situation.

Hi folks, I'm still pondering the possibilities! I'm a good "ponderer."

Desert Steph - That's a great idea for putting the numbers below the light, except the door goes all the way up to the soffit. There's less than two inches of siding above the door and then Bam!; it's a 90-degree turn into the soffit. The white trim above the door is only 2 or 3 inches tall.

The small light is centered over the door, and shines down from the soffit. It's very unobtrusive. The original light that was there had not worked since we moved in. I was so thankful the electrician could get it out and fix the wiring for the new light.

Want To Retire - Visibility could be a problem. Our street/town is dark with few and low-beam street lights. It's also very small; everyone knows everyone - in most cases back three or four generations!

I usually tell people either "It's the house with the 15 purple martin gourds on a 14' tall pole in the front yard" or "I'm across the street from Mrs. P (who everyone knows)." The gourds are up only in the summer, but the pole remains.

We don't leave the porch light on at night. That's one reason I was considering the vinyl street numbers put on the storm door. I do believe they would show up the most.

Murray's Mom - Yes! I had a choice on the frame around the front door. Since the door is dark brown, I chose a dark brown trim. The salesman tried to talk me out of it, but I didn't understand what he was trying to describe. The white trim - all around the frame of the door - and the outer trim would have blended in with the storm door had they been white. However, I like the bit of brown showing, so all's well that ends well.

Little Bug - the "Vertical vs. Horizontal" is what's slowing me down the most.

Eld - I haven't decided what I will have yet, but I've decided on some ideas I will not have - so that's progress, right?

- I am not going to have a planter box or shelf. It will be a plaque with numbers only. This wall gets full blazing sun from dawn until past noon. Any plant out there would have to be watered twice a day. DH would fuss about water on "his" deck, and I don't need yet another "thing" to look out for. So no planter.

- I'm posting photos of the house across the road with vinyl numbers on their door. I also took pics of my numbers in both orientations, but I haven't mocked up a cardboard template yet. As I mentioned on the "tea" thread, I'm sucked into a bit of inertia right now.

- Here's the neighbor's vinyl house numbers. I think they look good on the little house (which I love by the way!)

I took this photo from my garden and across the street, so I was pretty far away.

And a closer look at the door.

If I thought they would look "right" on my storm door, I could use something like these silver-foil numbers. They are 7" tall and 5" wide for each number. They also come in a gold-foil look.

Here are my numbers laid out on the breakfast table.

I would have them spaced as shown here, more or less, so altogether they would be about 12" wide. The plaque would be about 14"x9".

And here's the vertical orientation. Attached to a plaque they would be about 19" tall and 9" wide.

I would want them mounted on a plaque so I don't have to drill 9 holes in the house siding, all the while try to line them up perfectly - which would result in 29 holes more or less! I'll attach them to the plaque, and then use two (or four) screws to attach the plaque to the house.

So - dark reddish brown plaque with stainless numbers - or silver foil numbers on the glass?

Or should I use a green? dark red? black? or white? plaque with stainless numbers either plain like they are or spray painted a contrasting color?

And another view of the troublesome door...The roof is much darker and has more red undertones than my photos show.

The bird feeders were on the deck waiting to come inside for a thorough cleaning. I've finished the wire one and the orange "jelly and oranges" oriole feeder is soaking in the mudroom sink. It will be put away in the garage until next spring.

I asked the neighbor's about their vinyl house numbers on the glass. They don't mind a bit if I "copy" their idea. I have good neighbors!

And...about the plaque.

I just don't know if my ceramic plaque will work with the metal numbers. What do you think?

I did find this idea where the cabin is carved into the wood. Of course, it doesn't have our name.

They can make this sign in a 16" x 11" size so my numbers would replace their carved numbers. I still have to mock up the size to see if my 5" tall numbers would appear scrunched on this. They can make the corners rounded, as shown, or leave them square.

It looks rather small on this house.

I don't know. I'm kind of torn. I love the cabin plaque. That is really neat. But your neighbors' numbers are good too. It occurs to me that when they have the lights on at night in the house, the numbers must really stand out. That would be very handy for seeing them at night. Tough decision to make, that's for sure.

I have such a hard time making decisions - big decisions, small decisions, simple decisions, silly decisions, life-altering decisions - they're all the same. I end up flipping a coin, or pulling a choice out of a bag, or going with the shiny-sparkly-purple one! Or letting my friends decide for me.

I drove up and down a few of our streets this afternoon really paying attention to all the various house numbers. Boy this is a far cry from living on a military base, or even in the dorms, where every house/room number is the same size, the same color, in the same holder, and in the exact same position! That would surely save me a couple brain cells!

I did not tally up each house and their choices, but most, well over half, of the houses had the numbers to the right of the door, or on the side with the door handle. More than half were set horizontally.

Most of the vertical ones were not only vertical, but off-set, like a set of steps. Like LittleBug said, they were harder to notice. One house had the numbers '27' spelled out in a curly script as "Twenty Seven". It was pretty, but took more concentration to figure out what it was.

A lot of the houses here are older "ranch" style houses with the attached garage under the same plain roof as the house. Several of these had larger house numbers centered and attached above the garage door.

Murray's Mom - I do like the numbers right on the glass, but in the three or four years he's lived there I've never once seen the door's blind open or a light shining through it. I've seen the drapes to the left open two or three times. He's in his mid-20s and seems to be gone working nearly all the time. He rents the house; the owner put the numbers on the glass before he moved in. He's very quiet; keeps his yard neat and tidy, and is pleasant if we wave to him, but he's always away for work.

I guess I'll run the narrowed down choices by Wes and see what he thinks. I know his answer, "I don't care."

Heavy sigh.

Well Caroline, then it is up to us here at the KT! Post three choices and let's vote.

I really like the look of your stainless steel numbers. I think they would look great on a white plaque and mounted at eye level to the right of your front door. How's that?

my oops on the placement of your numbers... what I saw in the pic (in one of your first pic posts) to the right of your door and thought was where you were putting a new light fixture is actually what you have as numbers now (or so it seems in a more recent closer up pic you've posted!). that is, unless my eyes still aren't 'seeing' like they should. It is their 'job' to 'see' for me - they're falling down on the 'job'!

I also like the clean lines of your numbers and that putting them horizontally is the better way for easily reading them. the background should be darker to make a contrast.