DIY Project: Mail Holder Do Over

This DIY Mail Holder Flip is super cute and solved a serious problem in our house.  We have a mail situation at our house, it’s pretty much at def-com 4.  Some of us… ahem… The Boyfriend… will leave a pile of mail on the kitchen counter for weeks and weeks.  This not only drives me insane a little bit more every day, but it also takes up valuable real estate on my kitchen counter.  This picture is actually on pretty good day, usually it’s about twice this size.

Given that I have committed to my Spring Cleaning Challenge of cleaning up our Kitchen Disaster, I had been on the hunt for a desk top mail organizer that was long and not tall.  This was surprisingly difficult.  Why are all mail holders vertical??  After months of searching, I finally ran across this at the Goodwill and picked it up for $3!  It was perfect, it has 2 large mail holders and three little pockets for pens and other goodies.  This was going to be a great little DIY flip and solve our mail dilemma.

Here’s what I used for this DIY project:

*This post contains affiliate links.  Which means if you click through and buy something, I will receive a commission.  Hey, paint isn’t cheap!

• • Dixie Belle Chalk Paint – The Gulf
  • Dixie Belle Chalk Paint – Fluff
  • Mod Podge – Gloss Finish
  • Minwax Polycrylic – Gloss
  • 3M Scotch-Blue Painters Masking Tape
  • A Decorative Napkin, I found it at Tuesday Morning’s
  • Thrift Store Mail Holder

To start, I had to take out the picture holders before I could paint.  It took me about two days to figure out how to pop those little suckers out.  Actually, I didn’t really figure it out as much as I lost my patience and went to break them… and they just popped out in perfect condition.  Success!

After cleaning it up, I painted it with 2 coats of Dixie Belle’s The Gulf Chalk Paint.  I love this color, it’s the perfect turquoise!  Everything I paint in this color sells like hotcakes at my little booth at Lexington Vintage. 

I left the picture frames as they were and painted around it.  After it dried for a day, I taped up around them with painter’s tape, then painted the frames with Dixie Belle Fluff Chalk Paint.  This is what is so awesome about chalk paint – it is incredibly forgiving.  Look at the mess I made around those edges… who cares?  I’m just going to paint over it and Dixie Belle Fluff Chalk Paint covers so well that you won’t even notice the botched paint job after two coats.  

Now on to those little inserts!  I had a cute decorative napkin that I peeled all the plies off of and cut them just a little bigger than the clear plastic photo inserts.  I slapped on a bunch of Mod Podge and gently laid the napkin, print side down (that way it will show through the pain of plastic), and then went over it again with Mod Podge.  

After it has dried over night, I painted over the Mod Podged napkins with a couple coats of Dixie Belle Fluff Chalk Paint.  This will make the pattern really stand out!

Once it was completely dry and I removed the tape, I put two coats of Gloss Polycrylic on the box and over the decoupage.  And took how flippin’ cute it is now!!!  These are the kind of DIY projects I enjoy – minimal effort and maximum pleasure!

Best of all… my kitchen counter top is looking amazing!  It’s so luxurious now with all of that extra space!!!!  

How would you have used this little thrift store gem??