NON-LED SIGNS
One of the most common questions we are asked about our custom house signs is 'what colour options do you offer' and so this blog post shows you all of the options to choose from when placing an order for a custom sign. Most of our signs are laser cut from premium 304 grade stainless steel and we can also offer architectrual grade powder coatings. The stainless steel has a brushed finish and we pair this material with black acrylic for a high contrast, easy to read sign such as 'THE ENGINE HOUSE' below. We can also create small house numbers as well as large house signs in this colour combination, which is a great choice for matching with silver coloured door furniture, such as chrome handles or doorbells.
Our most popular colour option has to be a powder coated sign in Anthracite Grey which is RAL 7016, and this can be matched to anthracite windows and doors. (A RAL number is the colour matching system used throughout Europe which defines colours for paint, coatings and plastics and is created and administrated by the German RAL gGmbH). We pair RAL 7016 with a white backing plate as a contrasting colour and it is by far our most popular option for both house names and house numbers.
If you would like something a bit bolder and wih even more contrast then pairing a simple black with white is also very popular, and this looks amazing with 1920s art deco design. Black and grey powder coatings are an additional cost of £15-£65 depending on the size of the sign, and come in matt finishes.
If anthracite grey 7016 or plain black do not take your fancy, then we also offer a colour matching service for other RAL numbers! We have done a huge variety of colours and we mostly pair them with the most contrasting colour acrylic backing plate possible to make them easy to read at a distance. The following colour combinations below are WHITEHAVEN in Steel Blue RAL 5011and white, GYLLY LOFT in Mouse Grey 7005 and white, number 10 in Signal Red RAL 3001 and white. Please just ask us about having a custom colour matched to any details on your home such as your door or windows, or if you would like something totally original we can help you bring it to life!
If you love the beauty of the brushed stainless steel and the silver colour to match your door furniture or property details, but also want something more exciting, then we can also offer coloured backing plates to contrast with the steel. 'Beach House' below is a stainless steel sign with a lovely bright blue backing plate. Just ask us about which colours we can use for pairing with the stainless steel material, and we can even use a combination of colours on a single sign, like in 'La Casa del Sol' which uses both black and bright yellow backing plates.
ACRYLIC SIGNS
We offer a premium acrylic in a range of colours and finishes. The plaque designs are made from 2 layers of contrasting colours (3mm each, 6mm in total) bonded together to create a stencil effect, which cannot peel or fade over time like many acrylic signs on the market!
Our acrylic grey material is called 'Charcoal Grey' and is a close colour match for Anthracite Grey windows and doors which is very popular!
All our acrylic products come with everything you need to install your new house name or number, including a drilling template, all fixing parts and pictorial fixing instructions.
We also have a range of acrylic colours, so you can choose to add decorative lines or have the whole text in a colour to compliment the black or grey. The samples below use black with a mango line and grey with baby blue for the text and line. We can also use acrylic as an alterntive material for our LED signs.
LED SIGNS
For our standard signs without LEDs we use the highest contrast backing plate possible, so that the text is clearly legible. However when a sign is illuminated with LEDs we need to use a frosted backing plate to allow the light to come through the letters and make it possible to read at night. This frosted layer appears an off-white colour and impacts how the sign looks in the daytime. The LEDs on our sign are shipped set up ready to be on 24/7 as they are very low energy, but if you wish to install your house sign with a timer or dusk/dawn sensor so they are off in the day then colours and materials are more of a consideration. The images below compare a stainless steel LED house sign (LOMEA HOUSE) with an anthracite grey LED house sign (HAZELBROOK) with the lights off. As you can see, while both are clearly legible the powder coated version is much more of a contrast to the off white-colour.
It's also important to consider the colour of the installation surface, as this will have a visual effect on the sign and the LED colour. Stainless Steel looks amazing on red brick but gets lost on white render for example.
Remember, we can offer any of the powder coating options mentioned above for use on our LED house names too if you would prefer a colour on the surface of your sign in the daytime! Then regardless of which material you have chosen for the surface of the sign (stainless or powder coated), the LEDs will spill out around the edges of the sign and through the letters themselves. Hazelbrook with the lights on is pictured again below, and this is with warm white LEDs. As you can see, once the lights are turned on and it becomes dark, regardless of material the surface of the sign loses some of the colour and they mostly appear black, as the sign surface is in the shadow of the lights.
These fantastic examples below from an Andas Homes site in the cotswolds shows black powder coated signs with the lights off at a distance. For the most visble sign in daylight with no lights then black is the optimum colour, but remember you can always set your sign up to have the LEDs on 24/7 if you prefer!
The following signs show the different pairings of LED colours and materials for you to compare how your house sign may look. THE LODGE has a black powder coating with warm white LEDs, Swallow's Rest is a stainless steel sign with warm white LEDs, and The Sail Loft has an anthracite grey RAL 7016 powder coating with warm white LEDs.
We also offer cool white LEDs if you would like a more neutral coloured light, and you can see the cool white LEDs pictured below with various finishes. HIGH LYNN has an anthracite grey powder coating and cool white LEDs, The Chestnuts has a black powder coating with cool white LEDs, and Saffron Heights is a stainless steel sign with cool white LEDs.
While warm white and cool white are our most popular LED options by far, because they easily fit into colour schemes with exisiting lights and exterior designs, we can also source more specific LED colours for you, and below are just some of the colours we have used in the past.
