There are many types of different residential mail boxes. The traditional standard mail box is a black metal rectangle with a curved top, a flap closing the mail hutch and a red flag; standard post office required dimensions. The post office stated these dimensions to make it easier for mail carriers. However, many different styles and designs are available to make your residential mail box more interesting.

Your makeover could be as simple as painting your mail box a different and appealing color, or as complex as designing and crafting a mailbox that matches your personality. Whatever you decide to do, make a mail box that is practical and yet interesting to look at. The mail carrier will appreciate the difference and so will you neighbors.

If you have a limited budget and little skills in artistic or crafty projects, maybe all you mailbox needs is a makeover. Surround your residential mail box with a perennial flowerbed. Choose flowers that are not overwhelming and over grow the box but add to your existing gardening. Plant a climbing rose or morning glory and letting it vine its way up around you mailbox. A small perennial bed with low to medium height plants will give your residential mail box the companion plants it deserves. Choose plants that have interest all season long. Start with spring flowering bulbs like daffodils and tulips. For summer and fall interest consider some mums. Mums are available in many different colors and grow to a medium height. Black-eyed Susan's provide brilliant yellow blossoms in late summer and Shasta daisy's can provide summer interest with their white blossoms.

Driving around rural America, you can see a menagerie of different styles of residential mailboxes. Our neighbors bought the biggest residential mail box available. Dwarfing others' boxes in comparison. It's hard to understand what motivates individuals when choosing a residential mail box. The type of mail box you purchase determines your style. The gentleman across the way has a residential mail box resembling a huge bass fish with the mail being inserted into the fish's mouth. At a chalet in the mountains, another house had a wooden bear with an opened mouth to insert the mail.

There are residential mail boxes designed to match the ,ook of all houses. You can find designs for these miniature structures online if you are handy. Or you can custom order them. There are mailboxes shaped like animals, birds, fish, cars, boats about anything imaginable. It you are handy with tools, there is a project for you.

If you are handy with brushes and paint you too can have a standout residential mailbox. Using stencils, airbrush paints and some craft ideas you can create a residential mailbox.

An old mailbox can also be used for other purposes. Lugging small tools out to the garden can be a hassle. Mounting an old box in a backyard next to your vegetable garden or flowerbeds and using it for storage is another idea. This keeps your tools near where you work and out of the elements. Decorate the mailbox with garden style motifs to complement your garden.