When I took my custom mailbox to the postal service for approval, the postmaster handed me a form that details how a mailbox should be installed. Believe it or not, there are more requirements for the placement of the mailbox than the mailbox itself. Read more
Yesterday, I unveiled my mini-me house mailbox. I appreciate the kind comments (even it they were coerced ;-). )
Today, I wanted to give you a little tutorial on painting a mailbox to look like your house. If you can color in a coloring book, you can create a painting of your home! Read more
June is almost here (although it felt like summer this weekend) and more people are spending time outside sprucing up their yards and improving their curb appeal. As you drive down my street you are greeted by beautiful lawns, flowers, and {screech!}my peeling mailbox.
{Insert sad frown here.} My mom and I painted this mailbox shortly after we moved into the house. We had a lot of fun painting it together and I took all the necessary precautions of priming it and sealing it with polyurethane. But sadly we made the mistake of painting a few cute bumblebees on the top. Within a week of installing the mailbox I went to retrieve my mail only to find the bees had been pecked off the box. “What the…?”
I’m fairly certain a bird had just perched on top of my mailbox and was ready to partake in a buffet of bumblebees. After the paint had been chipped, it allowed water to seep underneath and slowly over the course of a few years we have the sad looking mess of a mailbox show here:
I wanted a unique mailbox that looked like a mini-me of our house. Plus, I wanted it to be tall enough to accomodate a priority mail box. So, I set about building my own custom mailbox and now you can too!
Several years ago I painted a mailbox for my stepmom (the wonderfully talented author, Diane Chamberlain). Her house was on a busy street and the mailboxes on this street were a prime target for mailbox baseball. I wanted to paint her mailbox as a surprise for her birthday, but the thought of spending hours painting the mailbox only to have it bashed did not appeal to me. Plus, this was supposed to be a surprise, and she might notice if her mailbox was gone for a few days (you think?!)
I came up with a solution that worked brilliantly! I painted the design onto automobile magnetic sign material (purchased from a sign shop for about $20). Wrapped it around her metal (won’t work on plastic mailboxes) mailbox and drilled the mounting screws through the magnetic material and the mailbox.
Believe it or not, that mailbox never took a hit by a bat (to my knowledge).
Here is how I did it:
First I wrapped the magnetic around her mailbox and cut it down to size. Then I traced the locations that needed to be cut out (bottom door hinges and flag bracket). The magnetic material cuts very easily with an x-acto knife or utility knife. Read more