Design for Mankind: Dress Up Your Mailbox
Here’s the deal. We’ve been living in our home for a few months now, but we we’ve still been making near-daily trips to our in-law’s home to pick up our forwarded mail. I know, I know. Bizarre. The only explanation I can make is that we were paralyzed with mailbox indecision. Our home isn’t what you’d call typical, so no ordinary mailbox would do. And the USPS has so many mailbox regulations, we figured getting creative with a DIY option would be tricky.
An $11 mailbox gets a vibrant (and oh so simple!) makeover.
So, we procrastinated instead. Until this weekend, when we finally bucked up and went mailbox shopping. Turns out we found a lovely, simple white model (that passed USPS standards!) at our local hardware store for just $11. Sold. Of course, by now you know that Ken and I rarely leave store-bought items untouched and are suckers for customizing… well, everything.
Here’s what we did:
A galvanized conduit from our basement made for the perfect post!
Instead of a traditional wooden post, we got crafty with a galvanized conduit we had on hand. After cutting it in half and following careful height regulations, we fastened an EMT connector to the mailbox and screwed it into place.
A quick and easy fasten!
Once the mailbox was in place, it was time to dress it up a bit. We opted to spray paint the traditional red flag a vibrant yellow to match our front door, and then settled on some modern house number decals that are weather-proof and outdoor-approved.
A cheerful flag says hello!
We love the finished result, and the entire project cost less than $20. In fact, we can’t believe why we waited this long to complete such a simple project!
Ta-da!
What do you think, readers? Have you ever made over a mailbox? Any tips?
Tell me in the comments below.
I love that you coordinated the mailbox and front door. The yellow flag looks so perfect against the white mailbox!
Super cute! Great idea!
I like the yellow flag! I grew up with a mailbox mounted on a big old wagon wheel my dad found behind a shed and spray painted black
it becomes such a landmark – when giving instructions to our house we often say "the brick house with the wheel mailbox".
thanks friends!!!!!
(and martha – brilliant!)
the interesting thing i found on mailbox is address posted i guess…if so then it's ideal for postman too
chimney
I love the yellow flag! Now I'm thinking of ways to redo my mailbox…think I could paint it pink?
While repainting my mailbox, I realized that I didn't have any red or burgundy paint. Having had breast cancer, I decided to paint it bright pink. No one else in our neighborhood has a pink flagged mailbox. Pink is great for the flag or the mailbox.
Why not? We have friends who painted theirs GOLD!
I would love a cute mailbox, however I live in the country and high school kids love to smash mailboxes. I don't know how many we have gone through. I'm actually thinking of painting the one that is up right now, which will be fun. Thanks for sharing!!
I had a white box encased in brick. When it began to rust, I thought I could just punch out some grout around it and pull it out. LOL!! That requires taking out 1/3 of the brick at a cost of $175.00 and inserting a new box.
I had a product in my garage that is called Zynolyte Epoxy Rust Mate which is primer and spray epoxy enamel all in one. It was truly simple and worked beautifully . Now all my neighbors want me to do their boxes.! If you are looking to repair rather than replace I highly recommend this product–except the home stores apparently do not have it and I can't find it on the "net" either except in cases. The finish is shiny, but I wouldn't call it glossy.
Anyway, if you need to repair your box, try this or something similar.
So helpful, thanks!
I was expecting something really different from all the build up-then it's just a plain mailbox. It does look nice though. And I didn't understand all the jabs about the "postal regulations". You just have to have a box that is at the right height and that the carrier can get to and open and close.
Too Plain Jane for me ! Like something with alittle more creativity ! I live in the country and have a cartoon version of a Allis Chalmers Tractor throwin mud on the sides of mine. Wish I could show a picture. Call me redneck but get alot of good comments about it (Unless they're a JD fan.
I love the MacKenzie Child look! The little mailbox hanging on my front porch is now soooo whimsical! Black & white check, polka dots, flowers, pink, yellow, green…..LOVE IT!!
I hate it and think it ridiculous that you make such a big deal about a mailbox. Who cares?
We love you, Terri and encourage you to not hold back so much. Just say what you really think!
Having a bad day, Terri?? Lose the attitude. Apparently, there are a lot more people who like it, than don't.
Well our last name is that of a bird! So, I would have one mail box very high with two birds on it with a sign at the bottom pointing up which read ( Air Mail ) Then, perhaps we would have our regular mail box built like a birds house!
There is one in Sarasota, FL that's been enjoyed for many years. It happens to be not far from the incoming flight path of our airport, too!
Cute Mailbox! I tend to go for over the top. I live in the country and have a large mail box at the end of the lane. I love to come up with different themes. I have had a barn, Uncle Sam, black with little yellow and red flowers, and right now it is paisley. I am trying to come up with something new for the 4th of July weekend or a weekend when Mon is a holiday. I get an extra day to work on the box. I try to do the painting when I can take the box down on Saturday and get it cleaned and primed, and then have two days to paint, usually acrylics and then spray sealed. I do notice other mailboxes when they are cute.
I wasn't too thrilled w the paint job of the mailbox. I too have changed my mailbox and this just didn't grab me. Sorry
Terri, in the big scheme of things mailboxes might not be important to you, but driving by other mailboxes I've also noticed different ones and it brightens my day.
There are so many things you can do with them. My daughter is an artist and painted summer flowers on mine. I love it and it has a personal touch.
If you are not creative and hate the solid color look you can buy those creative plastic ones that have magnets and put it right on the mailbox. I have one for Fall and one for the winter holidays.
People put those change of season flags outside so why not change the look of your mailbox too.
Another alternative is just plant flowers around the box or have climitis or other trailing vines go up and over the box.
Have fun whatever you do or don't do.
lmao! good one!
Love the clean simplicity of your mailbox! Where did you find the decals?
I love that you guys are so crafty with your mailboxes! Such fun!
@Donna — our decals are from this site: http://doityourselflettering.com/
I do paint flowers, birds, bird houses and more on mailboxes. I use the Donna Dewberry one stroke technique. I have painted several, wish I could load some pictures to show you!!
Carmen
I love this idea. My mailbox is so Ugly. My husband is the most amazing decorative/fine artist, it's what he does for a living and he just painted three utility boxes in our happiest town in the US and they are amazing! I can now see how he could totally transform an even smaller mailbox into something brilliant. Thanks for the inspiration!! His work can be seen on his website joebachelor.net under the top heading "featured."
I love this idea. My mailbox is so Ugly. My husband is the most amazing decorative/fine artist, it's what he does for a living and he just painted three utility boxes in our happiest town in the US and they are amazing! I can now see how he could totally transform an even smaller mailbox into something brilliant. Thanks for the inspiration!! His work can be seen on his website joebachelor.net under the top heading "featured."
yeah amazing interesting one
I love the yellow!!! As a new home owner (and I confess when it comes to decorating of any sort I'm hopeless) it is nice to find easy and inexpensive ideas to dress up a home. Well I'm hopeless at all do it yourself things. Over the summer I attempted to re-pave my driveway…..I made such a mess. Fortunately for me I found Dewey's paving that is located near me. God bless Bob and his team! Check out their awesome work at http://www.deweyspaving.com. Only problem now is that I don't want to attempt any more home improvements myself for fear I'll have another driveway crisis….
I love your mailbox very much. I too just purchased a white mailbox and was searching for creative ways to add house numbers to it. Would you mind sharing what font you used for #s? I appreciate it very much. I also like that you used grey numbers. Nice color use with yellow.
Assuming you used a 2" EMT for the post and connector. I'm curious to know what you used to cut the hole in the bottom of the mailbox for the threaded end of the connector?