DIY Success!

I mentioned in this post back in May that Josh and I would be using Up as a visual reference for some of the elements of the wedding. One of the most obvious nods to the movie is our card box. I know that these mail boxes are a big "thing" in weddings right now, but I fell in love when I saw this one in particular. It's the mailbox for the real Up house that was built in Utah.

Picture from Loyola University's Blog

I absolutely love the fact that it looks a little used, a little worn in, and I wanted ours to look like that too.

I started out by buying a basic white mailbox at Home Depot for eighteen bucks. It was too white and shiny and new for me, so I also picked up a bottle of Rustoleum Satin Finish spray paint in Heirloom White (it's a nice creamy color).

I painted the mailbox and let it dry for about an hour (you're supposed to let it cure for 24 hours, but I'm impatient and once I start a project I like to see it finished). I gathered up some Martha paints to start working on the fun part, distressing and adding our names and hand prints.

Nice matte ivory mailbox on the left, Martha paints in Tartan Red, Cantaloupe,

Carrot, Root Beer Float, and Summer Linen (from the left)

I started by using Root Beer Float and Summer Linen around the edges of the mail box to give it a weather-worn look. When that was dry, I carefully wrote our names in pencil on the side before painting over it with a fine brush. For our hand prints, I knew that dipping our hands in paint could cause dripping or globs so I opted to sponge the paint on to our hands before pressing them down. 

As a quick note, I made the mistake of doing before thinking a couple of times while painting this. I had planned on doing the hand prints in orange and blue, but when it was time to do my hand print, I grabbed the red paint and smushed my hand against the mailbox before realizing what I had done. It looked like a bloody hand print. I had to paint over it, wait for it to dry and start over. 

This is the final result and I am so happy with it! We still need to give it a good coat of polyurethane to protect it, but it's pretty much done. 

What are you doing for your card box?