How to Dress Up Your Mailbox

Featured Pro: Carter Oosterhouse
Category: Home Décor
Time: 2:42


CARTER OOSTERHOUSE: Hey, I’m Carter Oosterhouse, and I’ve got another GMC Trade Secret, brought to you by the GMC Acadia.

Now, whether your mailbox is attached to your house or it sits at the end of your driveway, your mailbox is like a piece of accent jewelry for your home. Now, your mailbox can say a lot about who you are. I’m starting with a new mailbox because I want it to be solid and do what a mailbox is primarily intended for, and that is to keep your mail safe and dry.

Now, this first one I want to show you is a mailbox that I wanted to give more of a rustic feel. The first step I did was simply spray-paint the mailbox brown. Once the paint dried, I took these old resalvaged lumber slats. You may have heard of lath and plaster on an old wall. And these are simply the lath slits that I cut down to size.

Now, you could probably have any local hardware store cut them down to size for you. I used an adhesive and I placed them all around the mailbox. And then I even scuffed up the front of it to give it more of a distressed look. And it only took about an hour.

Now, this one turned out amazing. It’s very Americana or very patriotic. Now, all I did was use a cream base and then put these red stripes, the nice blue square and then the rivets – perfect for the Fourth of July or all year long.

The first step I did was simply paint the mailbox in off-white or cream color. Once that dried, I simply used this blue painter’s tape to outline where I’m going to put my red lines. And you can see I have a nice square here for all the stars to go and a blue backdrop. And instead of putting 50 different stars, because that would take too long, I’m simply going to do one.

Now, I’m going to do the outline a little bit different and add a little sparkle to it. I’m going to put these rivets on here for the outline of that star. So first all I have to do is simply drill pilot holes for the star for the rivets to fit into.

All right. Now that I have my pilot holes drilled out, I’m going to go ahead and put some red paint on here. I’m going to cover this area up. I’m going to let that dry. And then I’m going to put my blue paint on. And then I’m going to put all of my rivets in for the star.

Now, if you live by the water or you’re just a huge fan, this mailbox is going to be perfect. Now, I chose a nautical theme without going over the top. I didn’t put sailboats on it or big sails or anything like that. I just put a simple rope that’s twisted on the bottom, has a base, and then I chose these five different knots on the side. And then I simply put numbers on it. And if you’re going to put numbers on, the U.S. Postal Service recommends that they’re at least an inch tall, which of course these are.

Now, these are just some easy ways to dress up your mailbox. And that’s your GMC Trade Secret. I’m Carter Oosterhouse, and I’ll see you next time.