Movin on Up

Nick went out of town to visit some friends in Austin, TX this weekend and I was ultra-productive without his dashing good looks around to distract me. The main project that I worked on was our entryway, which I’ll be sharing over the next few days.

When I posted about our front yard a few weeks ago I mentioned that I wanted to move our mailbox to the front porch. It was originally mounted on our picket fence, which was ultra-convenient for the mailman but not so great for Louisiana weather because the mailbox is not watertight and a rainy day = soggy mail.  I had a chance to chat with the mailman the other day and he said he wouldn’t mind a bit if we moved it. Most of the other houses in our neighborhood get their mail delivered to the porch so I didn’t think it would be a big deal.

For some reason I had gotten the idea that our mailbox was some sort of special fence-mounted mailbox and I would need to find a “new” vintage wall-mounted one. But when I came home from work on Friday and checked the mail common sense smacked me over the head as I stared into the depths of the mailbox and I realized that I was being utterly ridiculous. Having nothing better to do with my Friday afternoon, I marched into the house and got my trusty screwdriver, freed that baby from the fence and got busy cleaning ‘er up.

There’s still some rust on the inside, but it’s a lot cleaner than it was before and that’s good enough for me. I used a tape measure and level to mark where to hang the mailbox in its new spot on the porch. I never noticed until I was looking right at it, but you can see two small holes where the mailbox was apparently hung on the porch before! I wonder why they moved it outside. And why their holes were slightly off-center.

I proudly pre-drilled the holes. I used to hate the drill but we’ve come to an understanding and now work quite well together. The screws used to attached the mailbox to the fence were really rusty so I tossed them and used some similarly-sized screws that I had on hand. I still don’t like to use screwdriver bits in the drill (they always always always strip my screws) so I screwed them in by hand. And then the only thing left to do was hang it up:

I really like it. The mailman actually came by right around the time I sat down in a porch chair to admire my handiwork. He came up onto the porch and stopped to chat for a few minutes. He noticed I’ve taken up gardening and asked if I would like an aloe plant! Sure! So hopefully today when I get home both my mail and my new plant will be waiting on the porch.

And to leave you with an overdose of cuteness, this is what I have to deal with anytime I work on a project outside:

“Why are you not inside attending to my needs? What could possibly be more important?” She occassionaly punctuates her stare-down with manic attempts to climb the glass panes. It’s hi.lar.i.ous.

9 Responses to Movin on Up

  1. I love that you take the time to write out all your fun projects. I have to admit, I’ve done a few things around the house since I started reading it that were inspired by your projects. Nothing major, just lots of cleaning, rearranging, organizing, etc. Are y’all going to James’ graduation at Millsaps on Saturday?

  2. livingwellonthecheap

    Awww, Nanette, that is the greatest compliment I could ever ask for! My whole goal here is 50% creative outlet for me and 50% to inspire others. I think that we are going to be there this weekend. Maybe we’ll see you there!

    • I will probably be there. As of right now, I haven’t had any work come up for Friday evening, but I have to be back Saturday afternoon by 6pm.

      I’ve been trying to figure out something to do with our outdoor patio area… I definitely think the door needs planters! I’ll let you know what I come up with soon!

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