Modern Mailbox
Posted: January 12th, 2009 | Filed under: DIY, Our Projects | Tags: DIY, home, house numbers, modern mailbox, modernism, neutra, retro | 7 Comments »
It seems only fitting that my first entry is something completed yesterday, so as the premier feature I offer an alternative to obnoxiously priced modern mailboxes. You must be handy, or, as I am fortunate enough to have, a handy partner who can engineer your vision into reality with a bit of basic carpentry skills. So you’ve googled “modern mailbox” only to find that $400-$4,000 a pop isn’t quite what you can rationalize in your budget. So you start thinking……Can I (or someone dear to me) MAKE something that will suit my taste and not break the bank?
I too have lusted over the Neutra numbers on DWR, but again, $75 each….enter research mode.
WestOn Letters’ (link below) website provides my numbers at a budget price -I choose “deep ribbon” with spacers. Cost about $85 for all 3. I sketch out my vision of simplicity to be translated by my crafty counterpart into real measurements. Wood, deck stain, gravel brought the grand total up to about $125.
Pressure treated dog eared fence pickets screwed together on a frame with stainless steel screws. He cut the curve for the mailbox with a reciprocating saw and built a platform within the column for the mailbox to sit. We used our old mailbox so that cost is not included in our budget. Gravel at the base serves 2 purposes – keeps the look minimalist, but also keeps the wood off the dirt so it won’t rot, despite being pressure treated. We put a sheet of plastic under the gravel as well as an additional moisture barrier. The roof between the side walls is pitched at a slant (shed roof) for water runoff.
Found the mossy stones in my yard to finish the look and voila!
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- $125 Mailbox
Great ingenuity — excellent solution for a stand-alone mailbox. And I really like the look of this too!!
Thanks! I should note that as extra protection against warping, we glued the pickets in addition to the screws.
[...] this is how we renovate. (That’s how the mailbox got done towards the end of the kitchen remodel.) When faced with a big project that is very [...]
[...] see the project here [...]
LOVE this. And yes I did the search for the modern mailbox, and my budget was very discouraged. So thank you so very much for sharing this wonderful idea. I am going to add it to my hubbys to do list asap. thanks again.
Awesome design…one question tho – how did you fasten it to the ground?
It actually isn’t fastened…it is like a sleeve over the existing post with the box fastened inside the new housing. Original mailbox was a simple post and box set in the ground with concrete already. By using the gravel, we prevent rot to the new frame.