I Transform Architectural Tin Roof Tiles Into Incredible Street Number Address Signs

Serendipitous. Sometimes unrelated events converge into one singular idea. That's what happened to me. Just by chance, I was sitting with the owner of Uptown Market, where I have my Lucky Dog Upcycle store. I have merchant space there and we were going over the customer marketing newsletter, which I write because of my content marketing background.

While we were discussing the copy, a women approached us and said we should come to their architectural salvage building (LAS)--that our eclectic mixture of merchants might find a new supplier should any of us care to visit.

Much of Uptown Market's goods are vintage furniture pieces and other unusual items--many of them repurposed or recycled, such as my leather dog collars upcycled from amazing leather belts.

I decided to take her up on the offer and go to this place. As I entered the more than 8000 square foot warehouse, I became entirely overwhelmed. My eyes couldn't focus because of the huge number of items, and astonishing and extraordinary diverse array of objects. Large and small articles were everywhere--from decorative, antique hardware and clawfoot bathtubs--to remarkable vintage shutters and intricately carved wooden mantels and doors.

Eventually I zeroed in on the hundreds of architectural tin roof tiles stacked everywhere. Each tile was different, except for the 14" X 9" size--some with copious amounts of rust and hidden patina, while others gleamed with encrusted, shiny silver paint and scattered black swaths of color--no two were the same.

I knew I had to make something with them.

I wracked my brain, even waking up in the middle of the night, thinking about how I could use these things. Then, one morning, the idea struck me. I would make street address signs. Sounds simple, right? Nuh-uh. Not really.

Deciding how I would construct the signs and display them took some time. Sourcing for additional supplies, with the intent of keeping an aged look was front and center. I didn't want to compromise the architectural integrity of the tiles by using bright new materials. Additionally, as a reluctant perfectionist, alignment and layout of the cast iron numbers complimenting the rusted portions of the tin tiles was critical to the finished piece.

I made one custom street address sign sample and now use it on my own house. After that, I created a display to show examples of how the numbers would look, depending on the customer's needs. StreetSignsByDesigns has additional plans for creatively using the tiles and I look forward to getting started soon.

You can order you own custom street address sign on Etsy at StreetSignsByDesigns.