How To Make Your Mailbox Stand Out With Fall Flair
That first string of cool, crisp days is a welcome respite from the steamy summer heat. Capture that fall feeling in your home and garden décor.
Make sure to highlight all the glorious colors and textures that Autumn has to bring by styling your home and outdoor space. A walk around the neighborhood is likely to turn up some ideas. There’s always that neighbor who seems to transform their outdoor space overnight into a showcase of seasonal swag. Instead of viewing their style as competition, take inspiration to create your own unique fall décor. Start at the end of your driveway: learn how to make your mailbox stand out with fall flair.
Check Postal Regulations
Before launching your fall mailbox decorating project, be sure to check postal regulations that govern mailboxes in your area. Generally, the bottom of your mailbox must be 41 to 45 inches above the road’s surface and set back six to eight inches from the curb. If there’s no raised curb in front of your house, contact your local post office for guidance.
Your mailbox post should be sturdy but not so solidly fixed that it won’t give way in the event a vehicle hits it. That’s why the postal service advises against concrete, heavy metal posts, or decorative items filled with concrete, which won’t budge in the event of an accident. Bury the post in the ground no more than 24 inches deep.
Once you’ve checked to determine your mailbox complies with postal service requirements, make sure it is stable, clean, and undamaged. Fall is a good time to assess your mailbox’s condition and replace it if its better days are long past.
Landscaping
A simple and versatile way to make your mailbox stand out is by surrounding the base with seasonal landscaping. Create a raised bed or border around the back and sides of your mailbox post. Use interlocking bricks, wood planks, or rocks that are common in your location to define the area and cover it with landscape fabric to suppress weeds. Fill in the area with several inches of soil, and plant seasonal blooms like mums.
A natural way to landscape around your mailbox is to use cardboard or newspaper to cover grass and weeds. Then, add soil on top. The cardboard will degrade, and you’ll be able to plant bulbs that will become spring flowers, sedum that turns pink and auburn in the fall, small evergreen shrubs, or a clematis vine to creep up your mailbox next summer. Just be sure your plantings won’t interfere with your mail carrier’s safety or access to your mailbox. No thorny climbing roses, please!
For fall, it’s fun to add an arrangement at the base of the mailbox that may include pumpkins and gourds atop a hay bale. Just remember these attract critters, so you may need to replace pumpkins a few times during the season.
Cornstalks also express the fall harvest theme and add height to the background of your seasonal mailbox display. Combined with mums and pumpkins at the front, plus a whimsical scarecrow perched on a bale of hay, you’ll have an eye-catching, smile-inducing fall scene greeting guests and passersby.
Post Décor
If your thumb isn’t particularly green, that’s okay. You can still decorate your mailbox post with a garland of artificial flowers, leaves, and craft store picks that look like mini pumpkins, gourds, berries, and acorns.
Add colorful, weather-resistant ribbons to your fall garland, and attach the decoration with twine or wire. Ensure it’s away from the front of the mailbox, which must be unobstructed and safe for your mail carrier to open and close.
The scarecrow theme doesn’t require a gardener’s touch. You can attach a small scarecrow beneath your mailbox or a larger one to the back of the post, peeking over the top of the mailbox.
It isn’t necessary to do anything to your mailbox post to add some fall feeling to your outdoor décor. You could simply place an old wheelbarrow or garden wagon next to your mailbox (set back according to postal regulations and out of the way of the box itself). Fill it with pumpkins, potted mums, cascading vines, decorative figurines, a hay bale, and maybe even adorn it with a cornstalk or two.
Mailbox Covers
A magnetic mailbox cover is a particularly fun—and quite easy—way to add fall flair to your mailbox. Available in a great variety of designs, MailWraps® from Studio M feature images created by our artist partners. Choose several to switch out over the season. Holiday mailbox covers take you from Halloween to Thanksgiving and Christmas time. Autumn themes like fall leaves, pumpkins, or wildlife add rustic charm to any mailbox.
MailWraps® cling to your metal mailbox, covering the exterior in artist-designed patterns and images. No messy paint necessary! Simply position the mailbox cover and allow it to attach magnetically to your mailbox. The colors of these durable mailbox covers remain vibrant through all kinds of weather. For your convenience, we offer two precut sizes of MailWraps® to accommodate large or standard-sized mailboxes.
Garden Flags
A garden flag displaying a fall theme standing next to your mailbox (but not obscuring your house number) adds a bright and welcoming note at your curbside. You could choose a flag with an inspirational or welcoming message or one that displays a wildlife or holiday theme. Garden flags create visibility for your mailbox’s location and the end of your driveway. You might even consider placing a solar-powered light to illuminate your mailbox and garden flag after dark.
Decorative House Numbers
The postal service requires that you put your house numbers on your mailbox, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t also add an elegant and artistically designed house number next to your mailbox. Our Yard DeSigns® are magnetic vinyl printed with seasonal artwork. You can personalize many styles with your address using the included, easy-to-apply adhesive numbers. Then display your Yard DeSign magnet on our metal ornamental posts or yard stakes and switch it out as the seasons change.
Autumn is such a delightful season, and it passes so quickly! Enjoy the colors and images of fall while you can! From apples and pumpkins to scarecrows and squirrels, the tones and sights of autumn can make your mailbox stand out with fall flair and brighten the all-too-short days before winter sets in.
