A few weeks ago my mom asked me to redecorate her mailbox. She got it 15 years ago from one of my aunts who had painted a forest scene on the lid. Of course the weather has taken its toll on the mailbox and wore down the image quite a lot since then. So, with my aunt’s permission, I gave it a makeover.
We removed the lid from the mailbox along with all the hardware. I had to sand it down first to take off the varnish and any remnants of the original painting. To make the process go faster, I used an electric handheld sander. Once that was done I primed the lid with some white exterior paint. That required a couple of coats since I intended to use it as my background.
I had free reign to paint it however I wanted, so I went with something geometric. For that I just used my regular acrylic paints. I masked off the areas I wanted to paint with some tape and got to work. Now some paint colours aren’t that lightfast, such as the neon coral I used. That means they can fade fast in the sunlight. Fortunately the mailbox is constantly in the shade, so it wasn’t a worry for me.
When the design was dry I finished off the whole thing with some varnish. It did have a yellowing effect on the white paint, but it was all I had. Despite that my mom loved the finished piece. Hopefully it will last for many years to come.
