So I REALLY wanted a cool mailbox. I get fixated on things like this. Small, everyday things that I don’t want to just buy because surely there is something rad and artful and interesting out there. I love old stuff, handmade stuff, beautiful stuff. I love it and will spend a lot of time waiting for the perfect item. Oh I have patience here you wouldn’t believe. And the *perfect* thing never fails to reveal itself to me. I could have a whole other blog about my thrifted finds, ebay scores and etsy goods. I have great fun outfitting our home with treasures.
I couldn’t find The Mailbox, try as I might. So I asked my father-in-law, a recently retired pipefitter if he wanted to have at my cool mailbox project. He did and…
CHECK IT OUT.
I let him have at it. I didn’t specify a thing, excited to see what creative flares he’d add. Oh I am over the moon with his craft, so grateful for this little family treasure on our curb.
It will eventually be surrounded by a little hill of native grasses.
Most darling mailbox flag in the history of all time, I’m sure
The names are attached with bolts (not welded on) so we can choose to paint the mailbox if we decide we’d like the names to stand out more after it rusts. So far I like the low contrast. It’s fun watching the electric orange emerge with each storm.
He even thought about additions, showing us how we could add more names if we have more kids. I grinned and Andy brightly pointed out that the composition was pretty perfectly balanced just as it is.
48 Comments
It’s beautiful. And that’s something I never thought I’d say about a mailbox.
It is absolutely gorgeous! He should go back to work and be in the business of making mail boxes!
Zoe, I know! Same here. It’s funny to say about a mailbox. Really, anything can be beautiful! Function doesn’t equal boring. 🙂
– Nici
It is so cool. Way to go, dad-in-law!
That is pretty awesome! Your home is really coming together!
I love when art finds its way into our everyday lives!!! Oh, sure, it can hang on the wall, too, but when it’s a day-to-day item like this, I swoon!! 🙂
ps. Your father-in-law is a cutie!! 🙂
Very cool! You have such a talented family! 🙂
Very cool! What a fun way to get mail!
So creative! I can see that it runs in your family. It’s stunning. LOVE.
You’ve talked before about the moms with love- I think we need to hear more about the dads!
SOOOOO cool!
LOOOOVE it. It makes me happy to think you’ve got style all the way out to your road. It’s soo awesome! You know what I love best? There’s room on top for another name:)
I can not wait for our garage to be done, so I can break out my welding tanks. I just love metal art.
I just love it!
Jenn, Yeah, I knew you would be! 🙂 Maaaayyybe…
I absolutely love it! 🙂 He did such a wonderful job.
Wow! What a creative gift. I am floored.
I think that he’s on to something here….what a wonderful project!
it really is so beautiful. i absolutely love it.
So awesome. A treasure indeed.
Wow wow! I love it, good job father in law!
He rocked it for sure!
Glad you like it so much.
Andy doesn’t have any single brothers in their 20s, does he?
Also, if you come near Portland, will you please come visit me? Seriously.
That is so fantastic!
ahem, mailbox…
kicks ass!
Freaking radness.
WOW!
And how proud the girls must be to see their names on it, too……so very thoughtful.
Makes me want to send you mail just to know that it will end up in that badass mailbox. That thing is STELLAR.
Soooooo cool!! Best ever letterbox! The best I’ve ever seen!!
Awesome! I absolutely love it! I’m so jealous!!!!
I love when the men in the family tinker about!! My father-in-law is also a retired pipefitter and I foresee myself soon hinting at a beautiful homemade house gift. Coincidentally my husband is also an electrician…
Emily,
Andy doesn’t have a younger brother, or an older one for that matter. That I know of…
And, yes, I’d love to meet you the next time I am in Portland. Thanks for your comments. Made me smile!
It is wonderful and so much better than a store-bought mailbox!
That is the best damn letterbox I’ve ever seen!!
I love your names!
Rob knocked up our letterbox one evening after we moved into the hut (it was still winter so he was out in the cold doing it on the shed verandah by spotlights!
We’d stupidly changed our mailing address and realised we better get a box pronto.
I remember he just wanted a simple wooden hut, in the style of our home, so he sawed and screwed and we ended up with a mini hut letter box. It’s a little crooked, and unlike yours it does leak. But I love it. Ours sits amongst a group of mailboxes at the end of our road.
SUPER jealous that your mail gets delivered to your house. I always desperately wanted to run to the mailbox when I was waiting for something exciting, just like they did in the movies! No such luck for me.
Looks amazing.
Rad! And I thought our mailbox was different, yours takes the prize! Very cool.
Awesome!!! I am the same way about *things*. I’ll wait forever until I either score something way cool or make it myself. We use baby bibs as napkins until I have time to make some out of rad fabric. No matter how small or insignificant, I like to fill my space with quality and creativity. This makes me wish I had a mailbox!
Definitely the coolest mailbox I’ve ever seen. Love it! And your father-in-law is pretty cute, too! 😉
,,,BEST MAILBOX EVER!,,,
Maybe “THE MAILBOX” will reinvent the desire for people to us the USPS instead of email, insta-grams or Twitter….you know you will always get snail mail from me; it is a forgotten art, one that my mother instilled in me!
xoxo
ps, good job Kevin, you “cutie” you!
best mailbox ever! one of a kind for sure…..
You’re right. Coolest mailbox ever!
Holy cow!!!!….is all I can say.
“Thanks for your comments. Made me smile!”
Always my goal. Your blog makes me smile daily, and inspires me a lot. So thanks. 🙂
Even if we can’t be sisters-in-law. Sigh.
Wow awesome! Love it!
I love Kevin. I miss him, and this is just one reason. That mailbox IS Kevin. Perfect.
So you know I have a crush on your mailbox. I wonder if you mail person will too?
Wow, great to see the talent fall across generations on both sides of your clan. And who knows, another name could easily fit there and still make the design balanced. 🙂
And maybe if more mailboxes looked like that, snail mail would be less of a dinosaur compared to current cyber communications.
Jennifer
Wow, amazing! Great box. I just put one up for us. A battered second hand mailbox in an old milk dairy can. Perfect for us. 🙂
Yes, 4 is perfectly balanced in my opinion.
that is awesome! but here is the crazy safety first thing it made me think of. remember how some kids were not allowed to wear barrettes with their names on them in the 80s because there was this rash of abductions (or a fear of a rash of abductions?) where people would be like “oh, hey, sarah, your mom sent me, you have to come with me” but really this stranger would read the name off the barrette. ya so that’s what i thought of. to combat this, my family had a safe word that strangers would be given in the event of emergencies. query whether this could actually work. if there’s actually an emergency, and like, mom is passed out or something, how is she going to be able to relay the safe word to the stranger? anyway, good times. Love you!