Mailbox Redux, With a Secret Message for the Mailman!๐Ÿ˜Š

Marc Erick
by Marc Erick
6 Materials
$10
2 Hours
Easy
So, I'm entering this project in the address plaque challenge, although it's not literally a plaque. I live in an apartment in a house that was split into three apartments . Our house number is on our mailbox. Everytime I get my mail, I cringe! ๐Ÿ˜ฎ The mailbox is old, shabby and looks as if it was neglected for 20 years! (It probably was, actually!๐Ÿ˜€) I asked my landlord if it was ok to do some improvements , and he gladly gave me permission to do whatever I wanted, including the yard which, by the way, is a WHOLE other project. But more about that in another post ๐Ÿ˜Š
On to the mailbox makeover...
Since I seem to be working on a million projects at the moment, I knew I wanted to do this quickly, easily and...well... cheap! So I gathered some materials and went to work! I used:
Bronze spray paint
Black spray paint
Letter stickers, I used foam stickers with a gold finish
Accent stickers, I used beaded border stickers
Permanent glue (e6000)
Spray acrylic
A razor blade, steel scouring pad or sandpaper and q-tips
Oh, and an old shabby mailbox!
First, get the mailbox ready to paint. Remove the decorative plaque (I used a flat screwdriver to pop it off) Using a razor blade, remove any tape or stickers. Then sand the whole thing to make it as smooth as possible (I used a steel scouring pad) If there are any dents, this would be the time to gently pound them out. I was lucky... no dents! Woohoo!
Next paint the mailbox. I painted the box with a bronze spray paint. Allowed it to dry and gave it a second coat. Then spray painted the lid black (make sure to cover the bottom part of the mailbox!) Then I gave it a light spray of bronze, about two feet away, just enough to give it a little shimmer. Paint the plaque black and again added a bit of bronze. I added two small beads on either side, which I used from the beaded border stickers.
I found these beaded border stickers at ACMoore for $.25! And attached them to the bottom of the mailbox.
Now we'll attach the lettering. I am using these foam letter stickers I found at Wal-Mart. First, I gave them a light spray with spray acrylic. I just wanted to make them a little more outside -friendly. ๐Ÿ˜Š Allow to dry.
I decided to add some permanent glue to the back of the letters using a q-tip... just a tiny bit is all that is needed . Then I placed the lettering, the house numbers on the front, and a secret message for the mailman under the lid ๐Ÿ˜Š
Using permanent glue, re-attach the plaque. Then I gave the whole thing a light coat of spray acrylic. Allow it to dry completely and woohoo! we're done!
Such an improvement!
And here it is hung up. Oh, and the landlord loved it too! (Whew!)
The mailman smiled when he saw the message. I didn't have my camera with me but I WILL get a picture of the him one of these days, and post it in the comments๐Ÿ˜Š


One problem arose, however...
Now I have to do the other two mailboxes! Which I will ...happily! ๐Ÿ˜€ True to my goal, this project was quick..about 2 hours, easy..and cheap.. less than $10! Yay!
I hope you enjoyed this little upgrade ๐Ÿ˜Š and thanks for viewing!!๐Ÿ–’
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  2 questions
  • Jui10815929 Jui10815929 on Sep 08, 2018

    My goodness no; I am so far from those skills, until pulling the trash container to the curb is a major project for me. However, I would love to have one of those mailboxes. Other than making it myself, may I purchase one?

  • Dianne Curtis Dianne Curtis on Sep 08, 2018

    I don't know where you live but that is definitely NOT under $10 in my city. It might be under $30.

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