Since the dawn of civilization, signs have served as the guides to our lives. Not only do they point clearly in one direction or the other, telling us how to get from point A to point B, but also they proclaim a thousand other messages necessary to the navigation of a modern life. “Slippery Floor,” “Wait Here,” and “Road Closed,” just to name a few, are the types of messages we need conveyed quickly, simply, and effectively, and ever since an arrow could be drawn in the dirt, signs have been getting the job done. Of course, the evolution of the style and make of the sign has been a long journey.
While many of today’s signs favor the plastic or metal of an industrial society, this was not always the case, and although these signs fulfill their purpose, they leave one thing lacking; the rich romanticism that signs have to offer. Long before the machine could cut a stop sign, messages had to be painstakingly hand carved onto a stone slab. The upside of stones, of course, was their incredible durability. The downside was the difficulty with which they were made, and the difficulty of moving them from place to place, if need be. Therefore, when the technology to use a newer and more easily crafted material became available, it caught on like wild fire: wood!
The wood sign has been the mode of choice for hundreds of years. Proclaiming everything from the bakery to the cemetery, wooden signage has been making declaration after declaration in the most fashionable of ways for a long, long time. Everyone can recall the adventurous image of a signpost, with a dozen different pointed arrows in a dozen different directions, each pointing to a different city—Naples, Roma, Bologna!—in an exotic country. What a dream, to travel the world with only wooden arrows to lead you along, and all the adventure to be had between the posts!
Naturally, the more readily available signs became, the easier it was for individuals to purchase them for private use. The wealthier and most privileged families in Britain, France, Germany, and the New World, all began to make wood house signs. These were signs whose sole purpose was to declare, loudly and proudly, who lived in the house behind them. They would often have the address of the home and, as the homes got bigger and the wealth amassed even further, the homes themselves began to have names! Carved wood would state that the house was not only, say, the “Draper Residence,” but also that it was known as “The Geranium Cottage.” The prestige of having a sign was clear to all; in a time when hand carved wood was anything but cheap, anything with a sign was important enough for the public to have to know about it. If a house was important enough, it had a sign.
Today, the implications of a house sign are rather different. No one suspects that the homeowner is making a statement about their relative wealth or importance; gone are the days when signs carried a badge of home owning prestige. Now, a house sign is a wonderful way to welcome guests, personalize your home further, or just pay homage to a long and living tradition. Moreover, nothing could be easier! Today, there are hundreds of craftsmen willing to make personalized wood signs. These custom wood signs can say virtually anything you want them to, from “(Insert Name) Residence” to “Welcome” to, even, the name of your house! Although these custom signs began to be popular in rural areas, the quickly spread to vacation homes, especially to houses on the water, and from there they moved easily into suburban life.
If you are interested in purchasing a custom wood sign, either for yourself or as a gift (think housewarming gift or a good friend), the easiest and quickest way is to grab a phonebook and see if there are any local carvers or woodworkers in your area. If it turns out there are not, just go online and search “personalized wood signs,” and hundreds of options will pop up for your choosing. Once you contact a woodworker, you will be asked a series of questions, such as what kind of wood you would like, what shape do you want the sign, would you like any designs on the face of the sign, what font should the words be in, and, of course, what you want the words to say! If you do not have any idea what your answers would be to these questions, do not worry; the person you are speaking to is a professional, and it is their job to help you make these choices! After you order, the work is over! Just sit back and wait for your sign to be delivered, and enjoy a well labeled home!