I'll meet you out front

As you come down our road, ours is the home with the welcoming lamposts at the end of the driveway...

Right before the long line of arborvitae...

Magnolia tree in the front garden...

and a mailbox that has seen better days.

It is the first thing you see as you come around the bend in the road. The signal beacon that we are almost home. The first thing you see on our property. The first impression that you have of our home.

Only that singal was fading.

The impression was dull.

Something needed to be done...

I have always been drawn to a beautiful mailbox and post in a popular home decorating catalog. You know the one. With the gorgeous copper mailbox, the flower box attached and the enormous price tag.

$400 for a mail post! Did I mention that I live on a bend in the road? Did I mention the long line or arborvitae?

For the first three winters that we lived in our home, our mailbox was hit at least 5 times.

My husband finally moved the mailbox away from the road by about 5 feet, and in the four years since, our mailbox has stood strong. So strong in fact that it hasn't needed to be replaced in all that time. The only action that it sees now is the opening and closing of it's door and the occasional raising of it's proud little flag.

So I was feeling confident that we could make this signal beacon shine again!

I removed the box from the post and discovered a nest of ants that had taken up residence in an old crack in the wood. This find helped to make the decision to remove the cross bar an easy decision to make.

I purchased a wooden corbel and post cap from our local big box home improvement store along with two cans of Semi-Gloss Black Spray paint and two cans of Hammerd Copper. With the new cross bar cut to size, I sprayed all the post components black.

I removed the numbers on our mailbox that had been glued and then taped and then screwed on. I lightly sanded the box to remove evidence of the past.

I then spray painted the box with copper colored spraypaint. And sprayed again... and again. I should remember not to do spray paint projects outside on a windy day!

Finally, I had the coverage I needed. There isn't the metalic sheen that I was hoping for. But I didn't have any clear coat spray paint on hand and our mailman would be pretty upset if he couldn't deliver mail again tomorrow.

I hope that the mailman likes it! I know that I do!