Just after we bought a house I discovered Pinterest. We had to wait
six months before we got the keys so I had some time to pin interesting home ideas. Months of obsessive pinning passed before I finally worked out my own project.

Step 1: Inspired

I really got inspired by this picture above, circulating on Pinterest and Instructables for a while.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Modern-Industrial-House-Numbers/

I decided to create my own version of this cool idea and I’m very happy with the end result.

Step 2: Drafts

My first thought was to don’t use the same kind of grid as the original
idea had. Since my house number is 69, I wanted to try to make numbers have a nice curve.

I did many tests in Photoshop with the spacing and different sizes for the screw heads, and also did trial and error tests on a wooden plank. For some reason i couldn’t get the angle of the curve right to get a nice result.

Step 3: Designing

Since none of the results were satisfying, I gave the idea of using a fixed grid a go and I should of done that from the start.
For this I eventually used Microsoft Excel and this really worked well. Just set the size of the cells at the same value as your screw heads. In my case that was 5mm. And then start designing your numbers by using capital O’s to visualize your screws. After the many variations inspired on bitmap SEGA numbers, this was our winner.

Luckily, I just had to turn around the 6 to get an identical 9.

Step 4: Hammertime

I replaced all the capital 'O’s' with small round dots '.' which I centered in the cells. After printing and taping the two numbers on to the plank, I hit every dot with a hammer/nail to leave small marks in the wood. Make sure the alignment of the numbers is correct. In Dutch we have a rhyme “meten is weten”, which means “measuring is knowing”.

Step 5: You Know the Drill

Before I started with the bench drill, I cut the plank to the right size so it was more manageable while drilling.
If you don’t have an bench drill, try to drill with a straight vertical angle. Make sure that your drill isn’t too small, because then you may get some cracks when you turn in the screws.

Step 6:

Then all you have to do is treat it (multiple times) with paint or
varnish so your wood will survive in all weather conditions. I used a clear varnish to keep the natural look of the wood.

Step 7: Screw You Guys

The final step was to turn in the screws. I did them all by hand because I didn’t want to force the wood. Sometimes I had to redo complete rows because the screws had to much of an angle offset. When all 288 screws were firmly turned, all I had to to do was create a simple suspension method on the back, but this can be achieved in tons of ways. I used two keyhole shaped hangers on the back of the wood.

Step 8: Materials

The materials you need for this project:

– Screw driver
– Stainless steel screws (5 mm x 60 mm)
– Wooden plank
– Preferably a bench drill (or a hand drill with steady hand)
– Varnish or paint (paintbrush)
– Screw plugs, two keyhole hangers and screws to attach it to the wall (stone drill)
– Microsoft Excel or Apple’s Numbers software.
– Patience