• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Blog
  • Exterior
  • Other Rooms
  • Decorate
  • The “Museum”
  • Be Safe/Renovate Safe
Retro Renovation
Retro Renovation

Retro Renovation

Remodel & decorate in Mid Century Style

  • Home
  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Blog
  • Exterior
  • Other Rooms
  • Decorate
  • The “Museum”
  • Be Safe/Renovate Safe
Home / Exterior / Accessories and Hardware

10 modern mailboxes for a ranch, colonial or contemporary home

pam kueber - June 1, 2009, Updated: August 18, 2021

modern-mailbox-midcentury

I spent a few hours on the internet Sunday, researching mailboxes suitable for a midcentury home — including modern and more traditional colonials and ranches. Like toilets, many decorator mailboxes today seem to be “Victorian on steroids” or otherwise just too precious. But — I did assemble a good group of choices, at a variety of prices. I also stumbled upon a few mailbox posts with the decorative 50s scroll work we like so much.

midcentury-modernmailboxThe mailbox at the left , and the one at the top are from a New Zealand company has a wonderful selection of nicely designed modern mailboxes. They do appear to be quite expensive, noting that I did not look up the exchange rate. Thanks to Jenn Ski, I first saw mention of this company on her site.

mailbox-for-a-ranch-houseI purchased the mailbox (left) for my colonial-ranch from Rejuvenation, and I like it quite a lot – especially with the decorative newspaper hooks attached. These give it a bit more style. Home Depot offers some similar styles that cost less.

In fact, Home Depot had some other good choices as well. This “Metropolis” mailbox:

metropolis-mailbox

This Florence mailbox: florence-mailbox

And traditional mailboxes, but heavy duty: steel-mailbox

Another alternative: Vintage, from ebay and places like hardtofindhouseparts.com (as pictured below). Hmmm. Another business opportunity here? To find old mailboxes, powder coat and re-sell them? Perhaps not a lot of money in it – but a labor of love.

midcentury-mailbox

Finally, if you need a post for your mailbox, it looks like that is another research afternoon altogether. A post post tee hee. But to start, how about this scrolled design from Home Depot. Might work also as a post for an outdoor light although I do not know whether electric code would allow for exposed conduit. You certainly see style of vintage lighting posts still around today.

mailbox-post

mid century modern mailbox

CATEGORIES:
Accessories and Hardware

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

  • mid century door
    14 Places to Buy or DIY Mid Century Modern Front Doors
  • upholstery for a mid century modern chair
    Inexpensive upholstery for midcentury and Danish Modern furniture
  • historic house museums
    59 Midcentury and Modern Historic Houses to visit across the U.S.
  • SW-Suburban-Modern-covers032
    Our secret to get paper swatches for all Sherwin Williams Suburban Modern paint colors
  • rolls-of-fabric
    Mid century modern and retro upholstery fabrics at discount prices -- Maharam, Knoll, Herman Miller & more

Reader Interactions

Comments are closed. 

10 comments

Comments

  1. Marianne says

    September 23, 2014 at 10:00 pm

    Hi,
    Love your site!
    I’m not sure what mailbox we’ll end up with, but there’s a certain kind of mailbox flag that I really like. It’s similar to the flag on the ModBox.
    Where do you think I can find replacement flags like this:
    Thanks!

    http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrB8p3SwCFUxloAESKJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTIyaWxxZmJoBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZANkNzE2NDM5OTM1MTczNDA3ZDVjNmI4YTA2NDVhNWU0MQRncG9zAzUEaXQDYmluZw–?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dmailbox%2Bhardware%2Bflags%26fr%3Dipad%26fr2%3Dpiv-web%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D5&w=300&h=300&imgurl=www.homehardware.ca%2Fproducts%2F300%2F54409401.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwayanadnoticeboard.com%2Fadmini%2Fmailbox-red-flag&size=14.8KB&name=%3Cb%3EMailbox%3C%2Fb%3E+Red+Flag&p=mailbox+hardware+flags&oid=d716439935173407d5c6b8a0645a5e41&fr2=piv-web&fr=ipad&tt=%3Cb%3EMailbox%3C%2Fb%3E+Red+Flag&b=0&ni=21&no=5&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=11likpk3j&sigb=13ai1otie&sigi=11dun83na&sigt=10n577i69&sign=10n577i69&.crumb=vYBFlJ9rXVG&fr=ipad&fr2=piv-web

    • pam kueber says

      September 24, 2014 at 8:23 am

      I found one at an estate sale. I don’t know whether and where you can buy them new…

  2. Ginger Finley says

    March 3, 2012 at 12:33 pm

    I just stumbled on this great website/blog. The numbers on the round “smoker” mailbox are designed by me! Unmistakably mine. My company is houseArt, website http://www.houseArt.net. Check it out. I call my designs classic contemporary, and many have gone to mid-century homes. I’m also working on designs that would be MORE mid-century….{edited due to *u-word* being used}. So far, I have not found a mid-century architect designed mailbox to emulate. All of the pictures of famous architect-designed homes show NO mailbox anywhere. So – take a look at houseArt. We’ve been in Dwell aslo, so it was very irritating to see Dwell showcase an Australian company for the question about modern mailboxes, rather than showcase our Michigan, made in America mailboxes that they know about!

  3. angie says

    March 18, 2010 at 9:00 pm

    I have the original mailbox from 1960 still hung on the front of my brick midmod home;
    nothing special, just a black box with the “j” hooks underneath for the newspaper
    (today I have to go out to the street and look around EVERYWHERE for the paper)!
    It gives me a sharp pain to think that when I moved here I was possessed of the
    “tear it out/tear it down” mindset!

  4. Laura says

    July 17, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    Ugh! Updated to my post above – the shipping is terribly expensive! I was going to get the mailbox and post for $160 – shipping was $117! Scratch that for now….

  5. Laura says

    July 17, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    Love the mailboxes from New Zealand! Of note, there is a box in the upper corner that lets you choose your currency. They are not cheap, but the U.S. price is not as bad as I thought ($106 for the round one featured at the top of this article).

  6. JAVA says

    June 1, 2009 at 8:13 pm

    My grandma’s house (built 1960) still has the original wall hung mailbox. Its a shape I never really have seen before and it has a super cool door pull too (chrome under the paint.) I will have to get a photo of it soon. Pam, I will post it to the flickr Retro Renovation page.

  7. Juju says

    June 1, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    I love the top one. I know it sorta looks like a smoker but it’s cute.

    • Art Donovan says

      August 26, 2020 at 11:07 pm

      Hi, everyone. Actually, more than the mailboxes, I liked the writing and nicely casual approach to what is often an all too serious subject- Home Design! Subscribed!

  8. Maureen says

    June 1, 2009 at 1:59 pm

    This post hit the spot ~ on my front deck/root cellar, that is! We need a new mailbox! Thanks for doing some of the leg work!

Primary Sidebar


Footer

Follow Along

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RENOVATE SAFE
  • About
  • Blog
  • The “Museum”
  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Exterior
  • Other Rooms
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Notice
  • Disclosures
  • Contact

© 2023 Retro Renovation® • All Rights Reserved • Website by Anchored Design
Please do not use any materials without prior permission. Portrait by Keith Talley Photography