Spanish Tile House Number Plaque

Looking for a creative way to display your home’s number address on your house? Consider making a plaque with tiles. On our family vacation to Majorca this summer, I ran across these cool Spanish number tiles. I had wanted to add the house numbers to our lake cottage but hadn’t found exactly what I wanted, but these were perfect.

Here’s what I used to make my plaque:

Round and Numbered Tiles

Cement Board

Mortar

Grout

I considered a number of different shapes for the base, but decided on using an oval mirror as my template.

I used cement board because of it’s durability and that it’s water resistant. Cement board can be easily cut into any shape and holds up to mortar and tiling.

Start by arranging your tiles on the board. Keeping in mind the less tile you have to cut the better from a time / effort perspective.

Cut all tiles prior to attaching any on the cement board with mortar. Once you are ready to start with the mortar, Start with the center house numbers and apply directly to the back of the tile. Once you’ve centered the house numbers, work around the plaque applying small areas of mortar then the tiles.

To apply the side tiles, cut the tiles in a strip ( originally they come in 12″ x 12″ sheets), then apply the mortar on the side and work your way around the oval. I used the mortar tub as a base to elevate the plaque.

In the next picture, you can see where I cut some of my tiles on the edge of the plaque. I used a tile splitter not a wet saw. This was such a small job, I didn’t want the mess of getting out my wet saw and the wet saw blade takes away almost a 1/8 of an inch of the tile…which is a lot when you are using these tiny round tiles.

After you’ve gotten all your tile attached using the mortar, it’s best to let sit 12 to 24 hours to make sure it is completely dry prior to grouting.

I used a wood paint stirring stick because I didn’t want to risk scratching the Spanish tile but you could also use a plastic spatula. For this job, I intentional mixed the grout a little thicker for the edges, it made the application easier. It’s really kind of like icing a cake, the frosting can’t be too runny. Once you apply the grout, immediately get a sponge and bucket of water and wipe off the excess grout. I moved my tub of water around the plaque so the excess water dripped right back into the bucket.

Here’s the finished product. I snapped a picture on my mantle with the color contrast because the cottage will be getting new siding and I’m thinking of going dark grey or navy.