Mail Call!

I think the comments say it all regarding this "beauty" I got off of Craigslist for free a few weeks ago...

"Second... sorry to be so dense... but what is that thing?" - Leslie

"You should have seen me, I'm looking and looking scrunched up against the computer screen! I couldn't figure out what I was looking at!" - My mom :)

Before



After



Before


After



Even our mailman noticed yesterday!! He told Micheal he though it looked good. :)

Steps to refinishing my mailbox:

1. Don't tell your husband you're picking up a rusted, ugly, trash free mailbox off Craigslist, he might think you're crazy.

2. After picking up my treasure I took it home and thoroughly cleaned it using soap and water. I then scrubbed it with a wire brush to clean off the oxidation and large damaged pieces.

3. I then sanded the black part of the mailbox (the top is bronze/copper and didn't sand well) using 100 grit sandpaper to smooth out as much of the rust damage as I could.

4. Then I wiped off any excess dust/dirt/grime using a white paper towel until it was clean of all debris.

5. I wanted to have the two accenting colors rather than all one color so I chose my two colors. First I used newspaper and painters tape to cover the base of the mailbox and painted the lid cream. Let this dry for at least an hour (I didn't do this...had to do some touch up. It's so hard to wait!)

6. Cover the lid with newspaper and painters tape WELL! Spray paint is notorious for overspray so if you don't fully seal off what you want to keep clean overspray will sneak in there. I then sprayed the bottom with the brown color. We're using Rustoleum Spray Paint purchased at Home Depot for about $3.75 - not bad!

7. We then let it dry and prepped the front door for the new beauty. We removed the old intercom plate and spray painted it to match the new mailbox. (Hopefully we can get a mason out soon to properly fix the gaps in the mortar, we used a caulking compound labeled for repairing mortar but Micheal isn't happy with the gray around the intercom)

8. Finally, to attach our mailbox to the brick wall we used a masonry bit to drill the holes and anchor screws to securely attach the box. Voila! Brand "new" mailbox for the price of little bit of spray paint!

All it takes is a little vision, patience and elbow grease!