How to Make a Custom House Name

The front door is the entry to your home. As you greet your guests, you give them a glimpse into the style of your interior. I love the idea of naming a home and giving it a personality that reflects the vibe inside. There are many ways you can announce the name or number of your home: on the letterbox, next to the front door or even on the door. But I am drawn to the idea of the house name being displayed on the transom above the front door. Victorian homes often had this feature, and even though our modest cottage didn’t originally have it, I added one. And because paying for a foil sign was not in the budget, I made my custom house name using my Cricut. Here’s how to do it.

Choosing a Design for my Custom House Name

From the images above, you can see the look I was hoping to recreate with my custom house name. I would have opted for gold but because I didn’t want to spend any money on the sign, I dug through my stash of Cricut vinyl and found a gorgeous coppery metallic. There was just enough vinyl to make a sign. If you don’t own a Cricut machine, or similar, you can purchase items like this on Etsy. You could also create a stencil outline in Canva and trace around it onto contact paper.

My next step was to choose typography for my design. I wanted something traditional and unfussy. It also needed the ability to look good if I created a shadow effect. I searched Pinterest for some ideas and chose Cormorant Garamond and printed the letters in capitals. This is how it looked in Cricut Design Space.

Steps to Take

• Measure the window so your typography will take up about 2/3 of the space. My stencil is 40cm x 26cm
• Open Canva and choose your font and style. Create a text box of the size you need for the typography and type in your words
• Download as a PNG with a transparent background
• Now, either trace this onto the material you are using for your lettering OR upload into Design Space and follow the instructions to cut out your lettering.
• Clean the window well before sticking your lettering to the glass
• Centre the lettering. I measured the size of the box and drew guide lines on the inside with a marker, which I wiped off after installation.
• Press your letters on and rub them firmly to adhere.

The only snag I encountered was my choice of textured metallic vinyl. Ideally, you would put the vinyl on the inside of the window to protect it. (If you are doing this, make sure to cut the vinyl in reverse so it will show up the right way round when you install it.