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When my mailbox post fell over last week, I thought I’d have to dig a new post hole into the ground to get a new one upright again. Little did I know, there is another (and possibly easier) way.
Don’t you just love the internet for giving you answers you never expected to find? A friend’s suggestion led me to doing a little research for a mailbox alternative to the whole “Dig hole. Fill with cement.” combo.
The plan is to use a post kit which will drive stakes into the ground instead of digging a hole (ugh) and securing the post with cement. Not only will that likely be a little bit easier for me to get done on my own, but the stakes also allow for me to put the mailbox back in the same spot should it ever get knocked over again (since it won’t be breaking off at the base and forcing me to dig).
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| The old mailbox location (in more upright days). |
In addition to changing the way the post will be in the ground (er, attached to it?), I’m also going to change the mailbox’s location. I’ve been realizing first hand how much of a pain it is to mow the little strip of grass (mostly of the crab kind) between the driveway and the mailbox bed, so I’ve decided to use this unexpected setback as an opportunity to make things a little easier. By moving the mailbox bed and post over by just a couple of feet, the garden bed will not be isolated to a small circle and will instead take up a more natural shape next to the driveway. And with the new location of the post, I won’t risk driving a stake into a previously poured cement block that held the old post.
Plus, at $38 online, it’s a pretty simple solution that won’t break the bank. On my next trip to my local Orange (which will likely be this afternoon – I hate bills, but I still need to get them in order to pay them and I prefer my credit intact), I plan on picking this up as well as some new reflective house number stickers for the box that I’ll re-attach to the new post.
What do you think of the new plan? Do you think I should also paint the post white before I put it in to match the new snazzy look of the front stoop? Stay tuned for a few more updates on this unexpected makeover project. After all, a new garden bed means I’ll need a new garden to plant, right?
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My HOA required that the mailbox and post be painted to coordinate with the house. I finally did it when I did some other painting around the place. OMG if I had only known how good it would look I would have done it a long time ago! Such little effort, such little paint!
Well @artsyfish, I guess that's one benefit of living in an older, lower income neighborhood like mine. No HOA to tell me what to do. The upside of course is that I can do what I please, but the downside is that so can my neighbors! I've really been loving the idea of a white mailbox post (it seems the closest I'll get to a white picket fence in this neighborhood without it looking absurd) so I'm probably going to do it. I suppose my only hesitation is whether or not it will look awful in just a couple of years.