Canada Post's announcement last week that it would begin phasing out door-to-door urban mail delivery next year presents many of us with a predicament: What should we do with our mailboxes? You could take it down, but yank it off the wall and you'll have to repaint or wait for the sunlight to bleach out the bright spot where it once hung. Why not take the end of mail as a design challenge? In an age of repurposing and furniture hacking, all that imperilled mailboxes need is a little creative thinking.
Matthew Bambach/The Globe and Mail
AQUARIUM
Not a year-round option given Canada’s climes, but easily the best for making
guests do double-takes. “Wait, is that a goldfish in there?”
Matthew Bambach/The Globe and Mail
PINHOLE CAMERA
If you’re lacking hipster street cred on your, uh, street, you won’t be any
more.
Matthew Bambach/The Globe and Mail
HERB GARDEN
Bring urban gardening right to your front door. Pick something rugged, such as
cilantro or mint.
Matthew Bambach/The Globe and Mail
BIRDHOUSE
The mail carrier might not be coming, but little robin redbreast can still be
enticed to drop by.
Matthew Bambach/The Globe and Mail
MUSIC BOX
Lift the lid and the ballerina dances. Bonus points if you can wire it so that
the music acts as your doorbell.