Crestview Doors is pretty well known in the world of mid century home renovation for their lovely door lite kits (Update: Crestveiw has discontinued its door lite kits as of July 15, 2013). But, did you know that they have completded additional curb appeal homework for us, and found five more mailboxes that would be just dandy for ranch house, Cape Cod, Colonial or any mid century modern or modern mix? Some of these are made in the U.S.A. — hurray! And, the prices look pretty good. If you really want to wait it out, you may also vintage mailboxes on ebay. And, I’ve even seen them at estate sales (and, ummmm, tried to buy them off the front of the house.) But if you don’t want to fuss and want to get that mailbox in place Right Now, these look quite appropriate for a mid century home exterior. Click here to see the mailboxes over on the Crestview Doors site.
Oh, and if you want to see more, check out this story about 10 other retro and modern mailboxes.
Disclosure: Crestview Doors currently advertises on my site. This is not part of the deal or anything, I was just cruisin’ their site and saw these to add to our arsenal of choices.
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I would buy one of these if they had locking versions. Identity theft didn’t exist in mid century modern times but it does today so the lock would be appealing………..otherwise, great finds!
I love these and they are reasonably priced! Crestview rocks.
Pam,
Do you know of a good source for mailboxes that don’t mount to the house for those of us who live a little further out where the mail gets dropped off at the end of the driveway? We currently have a pretty beat up and ugly mailbox and I would like to replace it with something more appropriate for our 1962 ranch.
Any help would be appreciated!
Kate
Kate – click the other link I provided, there are few there… I’ll keep an eye out for mor options…
I have a vintage mailbox much like the top two models (minus the newspaper holder). In our current home, we’re required to have a mailbox at the street, so it won’t work here. I was thinking about painting it and hanging it by our message board, but I’m wondering if it’s sacrilege to paint it something other than black or white. I was thinking about pink (as I have pink flamingos on the bottom of the fabric on the bulletin board) but I don’t like changing vintage pieces too much unless it’s appropriate. Any thoughts?
Use it! Paint it! No NOS at our estate sales! Plus, it’s not like you’d be ruining the patina on a $100,000 piece of furniture. Well, not that I know of — the longterm market for vintage mailboxes with original finish has not really be determined yet. 🙂
Thanks so much for your input, Pam! Good point about it not being super-valuable. Also, using it will be better than it sitting in the garage, gathering dust…now I can’t wait until the weather warms up, so I can paint it!
I have a mailbox like the white one with scalloped edge on the lid, but it’s brass (with patina of age). it’s near the front door and is no longer used due to post office requiring street-side boxes on a post. I use the old box to leave notes (and sometimes checks!) for my pool man and lawn man! it works well!
I have often wondered why folks don’t use this type of box at the street on a post.
Hey, I made a pun!
We actually do have a mailbox similar to this on a pole at the curb. It’s welded on at the top edge & it very well could be the original (’57) as it’s rather bent up, rusty, & it leaks! Fortunately it doesn’t rain that much in SoCal. I think one of these Crestview boxes would be an excellent replacement. I especially like the $14.99 price.
I had to have a vintage MB and grabbed one from Ebay. It’s got the original patina on it – I haven’t made myself refinish it yet.
My mail lady hates it, because now she has to come up and put mail in it. For a long time, this house has had a mail slot on the side by the driveway. Prob was – it dumps mail right on the floor, goes under the couch, etc. It also made that corner unuseable, so I filled it in last summer.
A little off topic….
I love Crestview Doors, but when I recently replaced my front door, I checked with Home Depot, just for the hell of it. For under $300 I got a custom solid wood, unfinished oak door with three windows (classic 50’s around here). Disclaimer: I never checked Crestview’s prices, but I can’t imagine I would have done better.
Yup — good to do your homework. I’ll add this to my list to check into.
Wendy, what was the brand, model, etc of the Home Depot door? thanks…
Wendy – Crestview sells doorlite kits with all different window configurations. They used to ship actual doors, but now only ship the kits. I think if you live near their shop, you might be able to by doors direct from them. So you would purchase a solid door locally and finish it off with one of their lite kits.
Disclaimer: I think that’s the way it works. 🙂
I am so glad you told me this! I am in no way handy enough to do a Crestview door kit, so knowing that there is a home depot option makes me very happy. I will have to go there and ask them about customizing!
i’m now remembering some research i did like 2 years ago. found a company with doors as you suggest. when i called them and quizzed them, they were not warranted for outdoor use. that is: not guaranteed to withstand the elements. so i let it go.
I love the magazine racks on the bottom
I have a somewhat off-topic question, but as we’re talking Crestview, maybe it’s not?
Does anyone know whether, if you buy a new exterior door that is exactly the same dimensions as your current door, do you need to buy a new door frame as well?
We’ve been haunting the aisles of our ReStore (conveniently right down the street!) looking for something more midmod. Someone ripped out the original, cute door and put something very BLAH in, instead. We’re not very handy, so we don’t know if we could buy new and add Crestview lites, or even buy a solid door at the ReStore and add lites.
If we get a lovely retro/recycled door from the ReStore and it is the same dimensions as our current front door, can we just stick it in the current frame?
i suggest you ask crestview!
i would ask your carpenter or whichever contractor you are going to hire to install the door. hanging a door can be tricky, especially if you are replacing an existing door.
Nice! I recently looked for when I get a new door for my crestview kit, and I was choking at the prices!
I was wondering if anyone knows where to find a vintage looking screen/storm door that is solid on the bottom with screen on top ?
i’ve looked for this in the past, susieQ, with no luck. which is not to say they are not out there. what we want is “mill finish” door. tip: take your measurements, carry them with you. i have two vintage screen doors in my basement. err. with all the wagon wheel lights.
I’m currently obsessing over mailboxes. We have the original 1962 mailbox at the end of our drive… it’s shaped like a little ranch house with windows and roof and everything. It’s ridiculous/adorable. I think it was a trend for a while to have a mail box that was a mini version of your house?
stacey! send me a pic, i gotta see this! retrorenovation [at] gmail [dot] com
tomorrow when it’s daylight I certainly will. 🙂
Hi Pam,
Wow! I just love those wall mounted mail boxes. They give me all sorts of ideas since they have the basic retro look and shape but yet they are like a palette to customize in so many mid century ways. I am seeing the fronts embellished with some of those skinny gold starburst designs on like the black ones where they’d stand out nice. Perhaps some pastel colored starbursts or geometric shapes. I’m thinking a black box with a turquoise or pink colored artist palette shape set to the left side with the house numbers starting over the palette and running over onto the box itself. Perhaps the homeowners last name in script? Since some situations would require embellishments would need to be somewhat weatherproof, perhaps some neat automobile ornamentation from Ebay or junk yards. I’m thinking 1950’s or early 60’s Pontiac ornaments with those cool stars that used to be on fenders. (Can you tell that I just LOVE starbursts??)
I remember a mailbox in a town I used to live in that a lady used some pretty costume jewelry to add some sparkle to her mailbox front. It wasn’t overdone or gaudy because she used like one or two old colored rhinestone clip earrings and somehow attached them on either side of her house number plate. For those that might like something a bit more subtle, how about covering the front with a layer of that pierced metal screen that you can still get in silver or gold tone at the big bog stores. I think that is mainly used for steam radiator grilles but it has some neat style when used for decoration. The picture of the one old square box with the gold looking grille design on it brought that idea to mind. The ideas can run from mild to wild but these boxes sure give a great canvas to work with.
These are all too small for me, I’m looking for a larger one that will hold small packages. I found one, but haven’t wanted to drop $100 for it!
I’m in no way affiliated with these guys, but I ran across this in my search for a great midcentury-style mailbox, and thought I’d share.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/89300562/mb1-modern-mailbox-with-address-plaque