New Paint Beginnings for the Mailbox

Well...maybe not new beginnings, but a fresh new coat on the mailbox is a new beginning for our curb appeal!  The Spring Link Party we've been crashing got me inspired to fix our mailbox that looked like it was rotting away to a sad death.  Since Spring is about new beginnings, I couldn't have our mailbox giving up on its life.  That would be no way to start this new season.

Since the last installment of the link party is spring paint projects, I'm linking up to Sarah's blog to join in on the fun. Kim is also linking up her fabulous David Bromstad art she debuted here since it is all sorts of fun Spring colors so check that as well in case you missed it.  Remember the awesomeness she created on canvas....

I also had promised an update when I shared the plants I had chosen to go around the mailbox earlier so here you go....

I would say this is a hot mess of mailbox plants.  You can tell that the warm weather we experienced during our winter just helped all of our plants explode!  And peeking out of the back is that rosemary plant I told you the plant guy promised me would survive the winter and the summer - well he was correct.  I went to work on this area and cleaned it all up so that we can get our spring plants put in the ground soon.  That will be another post - this one is all about the slender mailbox beauty that needs a makeover - STAT.

Here is the mailbox post that hasn't been touched since we moved in:

I tackled the post by first removing the numbers and then scrubbing and cleaning the entire thing.  I scraped off the wood where it was coming off and stripped it so that I could apply a clean coat over it all.  I also used a liquid deglosser for this process.  The numbers on the mailbox were also removed so that they could get a fresh coat of paint and so that I could paint the post behind the numbers.  See how the black paint has bled onto the white?  And see how the rosemary is dominating the numbers - yeah, they got a fresh chop!

I bought a small amount of white outdoor paint from Home Depot and used a 10% off coupon so it was only $7.

While I waited for the paint to dry I painted the numbers ORB so that they would stand out more and not look so ragged.  I also took the numbers off of the house and painted them ORB to match and plus I HATE brass.  I'm sorry - not my cup of tea.

I decided that I wanted to add a little pizazz to my mailbox post - you know a fresh beginning.  I also wanted the mailman to have something that was aesthetically nice to look at.  Since we have homeowners codes in the neighborhood I knew I had to keep the post white and couldn't do anything drastic.  So I decided to do a subtle pattern on the bottom.  It wouldn't be too noticeable but people out walking their dogs could see and admire it and it wasn't screaming HOA penalties.  I used one of Marta Stewart's stencils from Home Depot for the task and just taped up the stencil and painted over the white.  I actually had Ben do this part because he loves stencils.  He just sprayed a metallic silver spray paint over the stencil in light layers.

I love how the stencil sort of looks like ivy or plants going up the mailbox.  And it is subtle enough since it is at the bottom but adds a little eye candy for walkers! I think it is just the right touch!

And now the mailbox has a Spring paint makeover.  Don't you love the subtle pattern?  I think the mailman will be pleased that the mailbox went from this...

to this.....

to this....!

Thanks for letting us participate in all of the link parties.  We certainly enjoyed it and I hope you had fun popping in.  Happy Spring!  And if you missed the three earlier Spring Link parties we joined in on, see our Spring mantle here, our Spring craft project here, and our Spring door decor here!

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