Polished brass serif house numbers 23 screw-fixed to the top rail of a glossy black panelled front door
Front door · Buyer's guide

House numbers that suit the door

Five doors on one Victorian street, five different finishes. How to choose the size, style and fixing for yours, and where to put them.

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The look
Number finishes
Polished brassAntique brassSatin chromeMatt black
Doors on the street
Gloss blackRacing greenAnthraciteWhite
Street
London stock brickPortland stone

Numbers are often the last thing chosen for a front door and the first thing a visitor looks for. On this terrace, every house has made a different choice: polished brass on gloss black, antique brass on racing green, satin chrome on an anthracite composite door, gold-finish numerals on white uPVC and matt black on a pale painted door. Each one works because it matches the door's other fittings and is big enough to read from the pavement.

Up close
Victorian red-brick terrace street with stone arched porches, bay windows, black railings and plane trees, the front doors painted black, green and other colours Antique brass serif house numbers 25 on the rail of a racing green panelled front door above an antique brass round knob Satin chrome serif house numbers 27 screw-fixed to a woodgrain anthracite grey composite door beside red brick Pale grey-white six-panel front door with matt black number 31, letter plate, knob and cylinder pull under a white stucco arch, tiled steps and black railings Slim gold-finish Hardex house numbers 29 surface-fixed to a white uPVC front door above a gold letter plate Polished brass number 21 with a smaller polished brass letter A on a glossy navy panelled door
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House numbers in every finish

Two neighbouring Victorian terrace front doors, a glossy black door numbered 23 in polished brass and a racing green door numbered 25 in antique brass, under stone arches with tiled steps 1 2
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Good to know

Choosing house numbers

Standard size76mm (3in) for most front doors
Trend statusEvergreen; part of every kerb-appeal makeover
Inspired byA Victorian terrace with five different doors
SuitsPainted timber, composite and uPVC doors

Match the other fittings

The safest rule is to choose numbers in the same finish as the knocker, letter plate and handle. A door with polished brass furniture and chrome numbers looks unfinished, however good each piece is. If the door has no other metal on it, take the finish from the house: brass for warm brick, chrome or black for grey and white schemes.

Pick a size you can read

Most front doors suit 76mm (3in) numerals, which can be read comfortably from the pavement of a typical terraced street. Choose 51mm for cottage doors or narrow top rails, and 100mm or more if the house is set well back, the door is deep in a porch, or the number goes on a wall beside the door.

Know how they fix

Screw-fixed numerals have small visible screws, are the most secure and suit timber doors. Pin-fixed and concealed-fix numerals and letters press into pilot holes for a cleaner face. uPVC numerals such as the Hardex range are made to fix into plastic and composite skins, and self-adhesive numbers avoid drilling altogether.

Fitting them straight

Where to put them

The usual places are the centre of the top rail on a panelled door, or the middle rail just above the letter plate. On a door with a large glass panel, fix them to the frame or the wall beside the door at eye height instead.

Use a level line

Run a strip of masking tape along a spirit-levelled line and sit the bottom of each digit on it. Door rails are not always level with the ground, so trust the level rather than the moulding.

Space them evenly

Leave a gap of roughly a third of a digit's width between numerals, and judge it by eye as well as by ruler: a 1 always looks better slightly closer to its neighbours.

Flats and subdivided houses

For numbers like 21A, use matching concealed-fix letters. The 51mm letters sit neatly beside 76mm numerals, aligned along the bottom edge.