The Mailbox
Upon moving to a rental cottage in Townsend, Tennessee, I only needed to install a mailbox in order to receive mail delivery at home. I considered the various options, and ultimately chose to construct a mailbox post of my own design. Sure, I could have purchased an ordinary, prefabricated post of some sort, but that just wouldn't do. Instead, I envisioned an elegant, hand-crafted structure that would glow at night, and the results can be seen in the photos below:
Below, the underlying structure of the post stands without any frills, after sinking it 18 inches into the ground:
With the addition of a black mailbox, hand-crafted address numbers, and a candle-lantern, the final product takes shape:
Below, left: Seen from directly behind, the post has a slim profile that you can see straight through.
Below, right: I carved the address numbers with the use of a dremel tool with cutting and sanding heads.
The candle-lantern (a Pottery Barn purchase) hangs from a hook arm that I carved from a single piece of wood:
The post is best appreciated at dawn and dusk, when the glow from its candle can be seen:
Eventually, I added a small roof to the post:
I wish I'd done this sooner: it protects the address numbers from sun damage and rain, and also from a much more troublesome problem: bird doo-doo. Birds like to roost on the top of the post, of course, and they make a mess. The roof does much to keep the front of the post clean, and I think it makes the whole presentation look more complete, too.
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