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Home » diy » Paint your Mailbox!

Paint your Mailbox!

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Be ready for awesomeness…. Even before we moved, we’ve had some mail delivered to the new house. But there was no mailbox (and our mail came with a sticky note wondering when we’d get a mailbox – that’s small town for you!) – hence the need for something awesome. Why in the world would you put up a boring mailbox when you can Paint your Mailbox and put up an awesome one?! And so that’s what I did.

tips on how to paint your mailbox

They turned out super fun and I’m hoping they’ll be a landmark for giving directions to our house, “turn at the minty turquoise  and chartreuse mailboxes, you know a crafter lives there”.  At first I wondered if there was some sort of rule against painting a mailbox because all the ones I saw were boring, but I looked it up, and there’s no rule.  Plus think of those giant fish mailboxes you see – painting has to be better than that 🙂  I realize that in a home owners association you might have restrictions, but we moved to the country to get away from all that nonsense 🙂  So colorful mailboxes were a must.  And I have a few tips and tricks for you on the project tutorial:

paint mailbox

Here we go, Tips on How to Paint Your Mailbox

You’ll Need:

–Mailbox – we actually ordered these on amazon – it’s a pretty busy road, so I wanted mailboxes that opened in the back so the kids wouldn’t be close to the road when they checked them.  But I didn’t want those big plastic ones, and that’s the only in-store option for back-access mailboxes – amazon to the rescue.  Although funny story, they are about twice as big as a regular mailbox and I had no idea until they showed up – the risk of online ordering! (and then the next week we ordering throwing knives (I know, crazy!) and they were super small – again, online ordering, ya never think to check dimensions!) – there was only one in stock of one kind and of of another, so they’re slightly different.

–Spraypaint – primer and paint and clear

–House numbers (I cut mine on my Silhouette with reflective vinyl background and black numbers foreground)

 

First up, if you can remove the flag, do that.  If not, wrap it in a plastic bag to avoid overspray.  One of the boxes had a removable flag and one didn’t.  Then I gave them each a couple coast of Spray Primer – I wanted to make sure the paint would stick.  In the pic below you can see the back box has a coat of primer and the front one doesn’t.  I didn’t worry about painting the inside.

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Spraypaint dries really fast, so this project moved pretty quickly.  Next up, color!  Several thin coats is much better than one thick runny coat.  Just try to spray as evenly as you can , starting at the top and working down each side.  I started with the flag down, painted halfway as shown, flipped the flag up, and continued painting.

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I wanted to be sure there was great coverage – I think I painted 3 coats on each mailbox.

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I let the color dry overnight.  I put the number stickers on (tricky to take an after picture without declaring my address to the world!).  Then I coated each mailbox in a clear coat for added protection since they’ll be outside.  This is probably optional.  My job on the project was done – – then they were installed by Trevor and my dad, and of course I didn’t take any pics of that process, so you’ll have to google that one.

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I just love them!  Life’s too short for a boring mailbox, so go paint yours 🙂

Meanwhile, house progress was pushed back even more because of delayed supply delivery.  But we’re staring to make progress!  Wonder if the FedEx guy was told to look for the colorful mailboxes?!

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About Mandy Beyeler

Mandy is a craft blogger who loves to blog and enjoys all things crafty, sewing, and DIY - she feels that if she can do something, you can too, and provides tutorials to help you along the way. She loves being a mom to 4 awesome kiddos and blogs from the Kansas City Area.

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Comments

  2. Wendy says

    I Love the colors on your mailboxes – what fun! Silly me bought a cream color to spray on ours, because I was also going to paint a crow and flower on it…but after seeing yours, I’m off to the store to get a more exciting color for the background! Thanks for the inspiration!

    • Mandy Beyeler says

      observant! We’re building a house on some land that sits behind my parents’ house – ours is land-locked, so we share a driveway with my parents to get back to our property. So I thought it might as well look cute as a set, theirs and ours 🙂

  8. Meg Lund says

    My mailbox has been needing a serious re-do! I wanted to simply paint it, however, I didn’t really know how to go about doing this. I really appreciate your tutorial on how to do this. I liked your tip to prime the mailboxes before you actual pain them with the color you want. I didn’t know that this helps the paint stick, so doing this definitely will help get the best and long lasting quality out of your newly painted mailbox. Thanks again for sharing!

  9. Tiffany says

    Mandy,

    Can you link to your mailbox? A double-sided mailbox that seems way too big is EXACTLY what I want. Mine was just taken down in a car accident, and I’m trying to shop “with” the insurance company, now. Fun stuff!

  10. Anita Goodman says

    Many years ago I was looking for a novel gift for some older friends of mine that were avid deer and elk hunters (well, he was anyway). I noticed that the mailbox they had was in pretty bad shape so I bought a new one and painted it a very nice mossy green color then found some fabric that had good size buck deer heads pictured on it. Cut out a couple of them and mod podged them on the sides. I don’t remember what kind of clear finish I used but if, or when, I do it again I’ll use a clear finish for boats (marine finish). The finish I used started turning yellow fairly quickly and got darker over the years since. Marine type finish is designed to take sun, heat and rain and doesn’t yellow. That mail box is still standing. It was beautiful when I first finished it. I am thinking of doing another with a little different theme.

  11. Brown says

    was wondering if you could share the brand of paint & the color of the turquoise green box?
    thank you in advance!!

  12. MARY says

    What is the color and brand of the yellow? Also did you do satin with the color and sealant?

    • Mandy Beyeler says

      Sorry, I don’t have the can anymore and can’t remember the color – it was a greenish-yellow, if that helps. And I can’t remember if it was satin or not – I think just regular clear?

  13. Celia says

    Hey Mandy,

    If I wanted to paint on our family name our mailbox do you have a suggestion for doing that? I don’t have a stencil, so I think spray paint is out… Do you think regular outdoor paint would work? (Like the stuff you would paint the side of your house with?)

    Thanks for the help!

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