I think this would look nice in white, with my purple clematis blooming on it.
What Does Your Mailbox Say About You?
One of the first things people see, sometimes even before they see your house, is your mailbox. Most people don’t give much thought to what they’re putting out, and it shows.
Next time you’re out and about, take a note of people’s mailboxes. In our area most people have the wooden posts you can get from the big box home improvement stores, because that’s what their builder put in. It usually has a rusted mailbox on the top, often times with a hinge that no longer holds the box closed.
Now think about the mailboxes you’ve seen that actually stuck with you. Of course there’s the really creative ones that are made out of some sort of found junk or a tree stump. Even if you go more conventional, you’ll find the mailboxes that you remember are ones that made a statement about the people and their care of the property, even before you met them.
Does Your Mailbox Post Need To Do Double or Triple Duty?
The reason I’m thinking about this so much right now is we need to replace our mailbox post. The cheap wooden one, that the builder put in, is now eaten half way through by wood eating ants and sometime soon it is probably going to topple.
My immediate thought is to look at decorative mailbox posts, in something other than wood. I have one main consideration. I have a clematis in my mailbox garden and it needs something to climb on, a ready made trellis of sorts. The other consideration is that I want an English country garden sort of feel. I was thinking white to go with the house, and the picket fence and arbor we’ll be putting in this fall. Maybe copper or bronze could work, too. I just know I don’t want black. I’ve seen some pretty ones with vining leaf motifs on them. I’ll keep looking, as I’ve probably have several months before it gets critical to replace the existing one.
If you’re in the market for a new mailbox and/or post, keep in mind that functionality isn’t everything. What do you want people to think about you before they meet you? Your mailbox helps set the right tone.
