Anthracite Grey House Signs - Can you match my house sign to Ral 7016?

I get asked this question lots of times. It is covered in my FAQ’s and quick replies on the chat feature but thought it would be good to cover in more detail here.

The quick answer is no, I can’t match to any RAL shade. But why not?

RAL shades are a European standard colour matching system. It’s used to ensure paints and coatings (plastic based) are all uniform in tone.  Paints or coatings are not very thick, they break down with moisture, UV sunlight, the reaction of the chemicals found in the surfaces / material they are covering etc. So they will fade, flake and peel in a few years, they will need re-spraying.

Compare that to acrylic (Perspex) which is used on my signs. They require no finishing, the colour runs throughout the whole material and the material is primarily designed to be used outdoors. It will not fade, tarnish or corrode. Just a gentle clean and some warm soapy water and a very soft microfibre cloth to remove signs of weather and your lovely house sign will stay looking the same for years! 

The other question I receive lots is about the specific colours of some signs on my photographs. I often get sent two pictures of two grey house signs, ‘which one of these is mid grey?’ The answer more often than not is - both of them are.  The house signs are photographed in natural daylight. As lighting levels change at different times of the day, year, weather conditions the signs may look different from each other. The light on your home will be different also, the direction the sun shines. Shadows from buildings and trees, the weather etc.  the photos I take are a true representation of how the signs can look in different conditions. No filters, No studio lighting are used.  All materials absorb light differently, Matt black will look charcoal in sunlight, more so than gloss black. All the signs are a Matt or brushed finish (unless the clear back has been requested). Once you have brick, render, timber fencing or cladding surrounding your house sign the mid grey not being a perfect to your anthracite front door will be very hard to spot.

Black or Grey?

Lots of photographs on my website show Black signs, but can be mistaken for Dark Grey.  As mentioned, the photographs are taken in daylight, on a sunny day which the light hits the matt, micro-texture surface of the acrylic, it can look a charcoal colour.  That paired with the Brushed Copper or Steel effect looks so modern and luxurious.  A classic black and white sign would never ‘date’ either. 

Get in touch if you are unsure which colour to go for.  There's many options available, I'm happy to source colours not shown on my website also, pink, blue, green, red, the possibilities are endless.

Hello@kreativ-design.co.uk