But no more! We don't have a ton of money to spend out front, so we starred with a seemingly small but packed-a-punch update with the mailbox. It's the first thing you see as you drive up, and, well....
Yeah. It was leaning really badly. So that was the first item to fix, followed by painting, staining, and planting. Here's how we did it.
Yeah. It was leaning really badly. So that was the first item to fix, followed by painting, staining, and planting. Here's how we did it.
First order of business was to straighten this bad boy out. We called in our resident Super Hero to assist with straightening the post, tying it to a stake, and adding some quick setting concrete to get things shored up. If you don't have a super hero on hand, I guess you can still try it yourself. Or use this tutorial to make yourself a cape. Go ahead and make it in adult size. I won't judge.
This is a pretty easy fix. Dig a hole, pour in the concrete, add water and mix per the manufacturer's recommendations. Check with a level to be sure it's straight, and tie it off to a stake. We let this set for 24 hours before we did anything to it. We also did it after the mailman came on Saturday so he wouldn't need to open it for 2 days. Brilliant.
Next up- painting the box. As you can see, it was looking really sad.
Start by covering everything you don't want painted. This should include yourself. Don't assume you're so great at spray painting that you can control it. You can't. I've had a blue arm for over a week now. Trust me on this.
We have a plastic mailbox, so I went with a Rustoleum Painters Touch in Navy. Suitable for plastic and exterior applications. I gave it three light coats and it looked great.
We decided to give this a full week to set before we monkeyed around with it any more. Mainly because we did it on a weekend and needed to wait until the next weekend when the hubs was off work. No home improvement job can get done these days without at least 2 adults on hand to mind the littles. But, a normal person could continue on with the updates as soon as the paint was dry to the touch, or in about an hour.
Saturday we packed up and headed to the nursery. Our box is in a pretty decent sized bed, about 3' x 4', so we needed quite a few plants to fill it up. We went with perinneals, because I don't love gardening so much that I'd want to change these out every season or even year. We selected tall plants at the back with progressively shorter ones towards the front to create some interest.
OK, how sweet is that?
OK, how sweet is that?
And this?
OK. Time to get back on track.
Tip- lay the plants out in the store in the arrangement you think you want. It will help the indecisive or unimaginative gardener (aka me) visualize what this will look like planted. Somehow my interior design skills do not translate whatsoever to landscape design. What a rip off.
We (the hubs) tilled up the beds, Henry and I planted the flowers, and then we spread the mulch and gave them a good soak. Easiest part of the update.
Now to stain the post. I was skeptical that an outdoor stain would really darken this old weathered post, but friends, we found a miracle product. The gallon sized can and brush cost us $40, and it was worth every penny. Both are from Home Depot.
This stain in Pecan looks downright sexy. See the difference in just one coat as I put it on?!
It's difficult to tell since my winter white skin is the same color as the gloves, but I wised up and put some latex gloves on. After my blue arm incident the prior week, I wasn't taking any chances.I highly recommend you do the same.
What a difference, right?
I went ahead and did 2 coats because I fundamentally believe in my core that no matter what the can says, everything needs 2 coats. I waited 45 minutes between per the manufacturer's instructions.
What a difference, right?
I went ahead and did 2 coats because I fundamentally believe in my core that no matter what the can says, everything needs 2 coats. I waited 45 minutes between per the manufacturer's instructions.
Bonus- we bought a full gallon so we could do the posts at the front of the porch. My biggest complaint about the house's exterior is lack of stage presence. Everything just blends together. My goal is to add in layers of contrast to help this lady pop. And man, did staining those columns help. Look at the difference.
Before - beige on peach on beige. Where are the columns? You can barely see them.
After - bazinga!
Am I right, or am I right?
Before - beige on peach on beige. Where are the columns? You can barely see them.
After - bazinga!
Am I right, or am I right?
Bet you thought we were done with that mailbox. Wrong! Why would I go and leave well enough alone when we can go the extra mile to make it special?!
We let the stain set for 24 hours before we got to the last updates.
I had the idea of painting our initial on the box, and the hubs wanted to add our house numbers to the post since you can't really read the address on the curb anymore. Yes, we could paint the curb numbers, but the neighborhood will do it for free if we wait around long enough. And friends, I can wait a loooooong time for free.
I had the idea of painting our initial on the box, and the hubs wanted to add our house numbers to the post since you can't really read the address on the curb anymore. Yes, we could paint the curb numbers, but the neighborhood will do it for free if we wait around long enough. And friends, I can wait a loooooong time for free.
I used the Stuido+ app (free) on my phone to draw up a little design that would coordinate nicely with the font of our house numbers.
Then I used an oil based Sharpie paint marker with a fat tip to draw the design on the box. I'm fairly confident in my drawings skills (and I'm super impatient), so I didn't use a stencil or pencil it in first, but you could certainly do that if it helps you.
This took about 3 passes with the Sharpie paint pen to get the job done. It probably could use one more, honestly, so I'll probably do that this weekend.
Max seems to like it just as it is. He also color coordinates with the box. I have a thing for navy and white, if you haven't noticed.
Then I busted out the power tools. I am woman, hear me roar.
I didn't feel like measuring (again with the impatience), so I positioned the number 9 just below the triangle piece on both sides. You never really see them at the same time, so it just had to be close enough for government work, which as it turns out, is not that close.
I used a hammer and nail to do a small pilot hole for each of the screws (you can see this in the bottom hole of the #1 above), and then used the drill's screwdriver attachment to drive them in. Worked like a charm.
This part (shockingly) didn't take much time at all. Maybe 20 minutes to do all 6 numbers - 3 on each side of the post.
And here's the finished product!
We are super pleased with how this turned out. The stain, brush, numbers, plants, and paint probably cost around $100. We have plenty of stain left for other areas of the house, so that's a plus. It's all still waaaay less than the cost of a new box and post, and it really upped our curb appeal factor, so it was totally worth it.
I asked the mailman how he felt about it, and he said he really liked it. I figure he's a mailbox expert, so that's a pretty good compliment. The hubs was mortified that I actually asked his opinion. Little did he know I almost took a photo of the conversation to document the moment. That really would have embarrassed him.
Our front yard to do list now looks like this:
Update mailboxStain columnsPlant flowers in beds and pots- Paint window trim
- Paint front doors
- Clean and possibly paint sconce at front door
- Install new landscape lighting
What about you guys? Do you have any large or small outdoor updates on the books?
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