Mailbox Post Design Ideas

The United States Postal Service, known as the USPS, specifies rules for designing a mailbox post. It should hold your mailbox with the bottom of the mailbox between 41 to 45 inches above the road surface and back from the curb or roadside by 6 to 8 inches. The post should swing away if it is hit by a vehicle. You are free to design your own mailbox post if you follow the USPS rules.

Instead of nailing a couple of 2-by-4s together and calling it a mailbox post, try a four-sided paneled mailbox post. The four sides give the post extra strength, while an L-bracket can securely seat the mailbox. Use two L-brackets to hold both your own and your neighbor's mailboxes. Top the mailbox off with a Corinthian pillar, pyramid or ball finial. Seat the mailbox post in a concrete footing as far back from the road as you can. Paint the mailbox post white and plant climbing ivy around the concrete footing for a clean, country look, or put the address numbers on the side of the post.

Use a decorative, wrought iron railing post and hang your mailbox from the top decorative spiral with a sturdy hook. Weld the hook into place on the mailbox and post so that the mailbox does not rock back and forth. Use a deep concrete footing to hold the wrought iron post in place. Train morning glory vines to wrap around the wrought iron for an added splash of color.

Build a mailbox post out of sturdy pipe and a rotating metal arm. The mailbox affixes to the arm and can be pushed easily out of the way by oncoming traffic or a snowplow. The rotating arm allows the mailbox to swing back and return to its original position undamaged. Sink the metal piping into a deep concrete footing to keep the mailbox post upright.

Buy an old lawn jockey and mount him on a pedestal screwed into the ground. Paint your mailbox to look like a lantern or a package. Attach the mailbox to the lawn jockey so that it looks as if he is holding it. Use a lawn windmill and mount the mailbox below the windmill's moving parts or toward the lower back of the windmill. Plant the windmill into a solid concrete footing to keep it from tipping over.

Some people use themed mailboxes to display their hobbies, likes and interests. Continue the theme by incorporating it into the mailbox post. Paint a tail that wraps around a four-sided wooden post that holds a cat-shaped mailbox. Paint a red stripe down a mailbox post so that it looks like it is unraveling off of a mailbox painted like a United States flag. Varnish a wooden mailbox post in a dark color, and paint the mailbox with a traditional quilt design so that the post becomes a quilt holder. Paint a mailbox post so that it looks like a telephone pole. Paint the sides of the mailbox it supports with birds on a wire, or paint the mailbox on one or both sides with sneakers tied together and "thrown" over the wire for a more urban appeal.