Mini-Me Mailboxes Add Curb Appeal
The spitting image of their parents or merely sharing some genes, these mailboxes show that good design goes beyond the front door
The mailbox can be a small but important ingredient in a house’s curb appeal. So the selection or design of a mailbox, its post and its enclosure should be considered greatly. Ideally, the mailbox should reflect the design of the house, in essence becoming a miniature version of it.
I’m not advocating that mailboxes should be scaled-down versions of the houses (though some examples follow), but that they should reflect the essence of the house, whether in terms of style, material or some other feature. Check out the mailboxes below as houses in miniature.
I’m not advocating that mailboxes should be scaled-down versions of the houses (though some examples follow), but that they should reflect the essence of the house, whether in terms of style, material or some other feature. Check out the mailboxes below as houses in miniature.
Modern houses are the most obvious type that require something besides off-the-shelf solutions. This duplex in Australia features a Cor-Ten steel box that doubles as an address placard, extending from the driveway on the left to the one on the right (out of frame). The mailbox’s form and cantilever above the pavement clearly echo the building behind.
Weathered steel appears to be a popular choice for custom mailboxes serving modern homes. This post, which also doubles as a mount for the address, is tall and slender, like the glazed entrance and window above it in the distance.
Here is another example using Cor-Ten steel, but one that shows a less literal way of matching mailbox to house. The sinuous bending of the rusty mailbox enclosure (I’m guessing it holds a fairly standard box) is more in the spirit of the modern house behind it, rather than a scaling down of any form or materials.
This weathered steel plate holds a standard stainless steel mailbox. Both are fitting materials for modern houses, and they pick up on the use of various materials (wood, concrete) behind.
This last Cor-Ten example shows standard steel sections (a bar and a post) fitted with a custom door to make a subdued yet fitting mailbox. The design echoes the use of corrugated siding and color behind.
Here is a similarly formed and built mailbox, but it has galvanized steel pieces instead of Cor-Ten steel.
And to show that the form isn’t exclusive to metal, here’s a third box that is similar but made of wood.
Modern mailboxes need not be custom built to be appropriate. This boxy mailbox works really well on the sparse gray wall.
And this bowed stainless steel box echoes the shallow pitch of the house’s overhanging roof.
A mailbox as miniature need not be a stand-alone element, considering that where a mailbox is located is based on considerations beyond the homeowner’s preferences (whether the mail is delivered by car or on foot, for example, or if it’s safe away from the house). Therefore attached or integral mailboxes should be considered with the design of the house, something that clearly was done in this modern entry, where the mailbox disappears.
In case you didn’t see it — about waist height just left of the door pull — here is a close-up of the modern, minimalist design.
Heading back out to the curb, here is the first of a few mailbox designs that really are mini houses for mail (mailhouses?). This little log cabin is propped upon wood posts and has the same orientation as the house behind.
We don’t need to see much of the house to know this mailbox is a good rendition of it, down to the black shutters. Note that this example is an enclosure around a standard mailbox.
The details in the two previous examples are scaled down, but in this mailbox the roof and siding are to the scale of the house, built the same way, as if it were a mockup. A standard mailbox pokes through a small section of the siding.
In the three previous examples the mailboxes have design features that echo the houses, a good tactic for creating something tied to the house. Here the mailbox is set into a stone wall that echoes the battered walls of the house beyond.
The garage beyond hints at the conversion of a midcentury ranch into a Prairie-style house. Considering that Frank Lloyd Wright prized nature, it’s fitting that the architect of this renovation fit a copper mailbox (with great difficulty, in his words) into a boulder.
The low wall at the front of this Mediterranean-style house is broken for the entry walk and driveway. The mailbox sits in one of two thick posts astride the walkway, fitting with the house but also creating a strong sense of entry and arrival.
The traditional form of this house is belied by the whitewashing that simplifies the walls and windows. This modernization of the traditional is echoed in the stainless steel box with address inserted into the whitewashed wall by the entrance gate.
This house in Australia is an assemblage of volumes in different shades of gray, echoed by the walkway and the gray objects set into the landscaping, one of them serving as a mailbox.
This modern house may be low and horizontal, but the freestanding mailbox is tall and proud, with an illuminated top. Appropriately, both are boxes, and both are capped by thin rooflines.
Here is a case where the modern aspects of a house’s design extend to every aspect of the yard. The side walls, planter walls, steps and planter boxes work together really well. One dark wall has been cut to create a spot where the mailbox is nestled comfortably.
This last example is a quirky design that is worth including not for the way it echoes the house, but for the way it elevates itself above some pretty drab conditions. Three sides of the entrance to a basement apartment are lined with a sculptural installation composed of nearly 1,000 pyramid-shaped wood blocks.
Set into the left side is a built-in mailbox, a great little surprise in a very surprising entryway.
Your turn: Does your mailbox reflect your home’s design? Post a photo in the Comments!
Your turn: Does your mailbox reflect your home’s design? Post a photo in the Comments!