In Which We Look For A Stylish Sign

So since we're about to move into this gorgeous new house, I've been thinking of ways to keep the home from looking like a medical facility.  Smart storage and a beautiful custom bed for Connor will go a long way, but there's one thing that's been bothering me.

Connor uses oxygen whenever he has a seizure.  So right smack dab in the front window of this stylish house, we have to post one of those nasty signs warning people not to smoke because there's oxygen in use in the home.

These are not the most stylish of signs. 

We have to have one by each of our entrances into the home-- pretty sure they're required by law-- but nothing says that we can't make the sign a little nicer, so long as it's legible and contains the information needed.  We know no one's going to be smoking in our home (or at least they better not be) so the sign is more for firefighters in case the house is on fire and we need to make sure they know that it might, um, blow up.

So anyway, late last night I logged onto Etsy-- that wonderful addictive website chock full of vendors of handmade goods-- and put in an open request for a stylish home oxygen sign via their custom request process (alchemy).  I specified that the medium, whatever it was, needed to hold up well to direct sunlight, and included a picture of the area the sign would be hung in as well as the names of the paint colors used inside and outside our home.

I figured if I was lucky I'd get one bid-- this isn't the sort of thing most people are requesting, after all.  Home oxygen signs are probably not the most exciting of design challenges.  But lo and behold, by the end of today I had thirteen vendors who were interested in making us a sign!  Proposed mediums included everything from laminated paper to wood to vinyl to stone.  We've asked all of them to submit a design sketch and we'll choose three of the designs-- one for each door.  I'm really psyched to see what they will come up with!

If you guys are interested, I'll see if I can get permission to show you all the finished products once we've made a decision and have them in our hot little hands!

~Jess

Picture Source: http://www.freesignage.com/osha_danger_signs.php