Amy and Anthropologie: House Numbers

Hey there Lovely Crafty readers! It’s Rachael’s friend and neighbor Amy here, reporting for duty. Rachael is off to Reno to visit her mom and stepdad and I have been left in charge of the dog, the cats, the garden and the blog. The animals are sufficiently spoiled, the garden looks lovely (I may or may not have hijacked a peony or two for myself), and now it’s time for some crafting. I will do my best to not disappoint.

I have really been digging Rachael’s newest series, Rachael and Restoration, especially since I have been reaping some of the benefits. Did you see how cute my craft room stool is!?! Love it! Not to be out done, I’ve decided to totally rip off pay homage to my favorite store. Welcome to my new series, Amy & Anthropologie!

Like Rachael and Restoration, I have a love, love, love, hate relationship with Anthro. I basically adore everything they have from clothing to furniture. I love it all so much that sometimes I see things at Anthro that make me want to take the perfectly good things I have at home and throw them right in the trash. During our last pilgrimage to Raleigh to visit a brick and mortar Anthropologie store (can you hear the angels singing?), I spent nearly $30 that I completely didn’t have on a set of measuring spoons that I totally didn’t need. How could a frugal and thrifty girl like me justify such an unnecessary and totally self indulgent purchase?

{Anthropologie}

Yep, just look at them! GLORIOUS! The kilt pin sent me right over the edge. I bought them, brought them home, and gave my perfectly good (infact rather nice) measuring spoons to Rachael. Talk about a win/win.

Unfortunately for me, when I have that “I love this so much that I want to throw all the nice stuff at my house that I previously adored right in the trash” feeling, it generally doesn’t have a happy ending. I usually just get angry, kinda want to cry a little, and go home empty handed. So, I will follow Rachael’s lead (as usual) and embrace my love, love, love, hate relationship with Anthro and use it for crafty inspiration rather than thoughts of suicide.

Enter the Polychromatic House Numbers

{Anthropologie}

These beauties, although currently available online, were actually in the sale room at Anthro the last time we visited the store. I dug through a box of them hoping to find the “3” and the “9” I needed for my house, but to no avail. There was nary a “3” to be found. I’ve been thinking about them ever since.

These retail on sale for $7.95/ea, but I stopped at Home Depot and picked up two white subway tiles for a total of $0.47, including tax. #winning

Shockingly, I had a bunch of craft paint left over in a variety of colors from previous projects, and a can of indoor/outdoor spray poly hanging around the craft room, too.

I considered purchasing some oven bake polymer clay at Michael’s to make the numbers 3D, just like the Anthro inspiration, but I kind of liked the idea of spending less than $0.50 on this craft, so I opted to get creative with the paint instead.

Using the Anthro house numbers as a guide, I chose colors in a similar pallet and painted three different designs on each tile, one geometric, one vine-ish, and one flowery. I hope you are following my super technical directions so far

I am a pretty decent free-hand painter, so I just went with it, but I am sure any variety of stencils could be employed here, if you choose.  Don’t be afraid. Any mistakes can be easily wiped away with a paper towel or finger while the paint is wet (don’t ask me how I know this).

After I painted the background, I let the tiles dry for a bit.  Then I got really brave and free–handed the numbers on top of the design in red.

For a finishing touch, since I cheaped out on the polymer clay, I used some black and white paint to add some detail and faux-depth to the numbers.

Once that was dry, I hit them with three coats of indoor/outdoor clear poly. Pretty pleased with the results so far, I set out to use some junk that I had at the house to fashion some sort of a hanger for the backs. In hind sight, it may have been smarter to do this step first.

I settled on gorilla gluing some large paper clips to them. I used some black tape to hold the clips in place while the glue dried.

Here is the finished product, hanging proudly by my garden gate.

I am so happy with the finished product! It’s not Anthropologie, but it’s a pretty similar look. And for a total out-of-pocket cost of less than what I would throw in a parking meter, I’ve gotta say, I think I love, love, love them!