Where's the party?

We've set the date for our Housewarming Party, which is exciting but ultimately is just sort of making us both cranky. There's a ton we want and need to get done before then, some of which requires purchasing semi-major tools (propane torch for soldering, pipe cutter, etc.) and all of which requires intense physical labor.

And then some of it is just silly. For instance, there are no house numbers on our house. The mailman and delivery people apparently just know it from habit, but every time we think about ordering delivery food the conversation goes something like this:

K: "You know our pizza place will deliver for $1."
B: "How will they find us? We don't have any house numbers."
K: "We could tape a piece of paper up."
B: "That's tacky."
K: "It'd be temporary."
B: "Meh."
K: "We could wait for them outside."
B: "That seems inefficient."
K: "We need house numbers."
B: "We do."
K: "Okay, let's just go pick up the pizza."

Then we drive the two blocks up the street and get the pizza.

But now that we're inviting people over we really actually need house numbers! No tacky paper sign will do. But what kind to get? There are all kinds of options. We've both been admiring the tiled numbers of our neighbors across the street, so I thought I'd look up some places that sell tile house numbers. Well, praise the Internets! You can literally find anything you're looking for in mind-boggling quantity and diversity. There are Mexican talavera tiles (I kind of love them - the colors!), cheesy floral tiles, and straightforward font-on-ceramic tiles. And as a rule of thumb, as soon as you attach the word "Craftsman" or "Arts and Crafts" to anything, the price triples.

But I'm sort of infatuated with a company called Ravenstone Tiles. They're in Washington state, and make very pretty Craftsman-inspired tiles without the massive jack in price. Observe:
Isn't that tree fantastic? According to their prices, that configuration will set you back only $110 plus shipping. And that's a fancy one!

So for now, we'll probably go with some not-horrible-looking black numbers from Lowe's. But maybe eventually we can get our Craftsman on and order some fancy-ass tiles.