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.