Curb appeal: It's in the mail

Wayne Burwell's company sells mailboxes in the shape of guitars, fish and trains, among other items. His favorite designs, he said, are the five-foot-tall hand holding a cigar and the golf ball.

Burwell, president of Mailbox Factory Inc., based in Kirtland, Ohio, is one of several merchants offering homeowners the chance to dress up their front yards with a mailbox reflecting their style. His unusual designs make up about half of the 500 boxes he sells annually. About 100 of those sales, he said, are one-of-a-kind designs, such as the golf ball.

"There's been creative mailboxes ever since they first came out," Burwell said. "It's just there were no companies out there to make unique mailboxes. Now there are, and the mailboxes can almost become a landmark. The neighbors will say, `I'm two doors down from the guy with the golf ball.'"

Fred Close, a resident of Madison, Ohio, spent nearly $400 to purchase a golf ball box.

"This mailbox is a big, strong thing and it's immediately visible. There are so many people who are crazy about golf," Close said.

Carolina Dahl, co-owner of Alanda Creations, a Miami-based company, said her designs express the uniqueness of the customer.

"Our designs mean different things to different people," Dahl said. "Some of our customers purchase the mailboxes to distinguish themselves from their neighbors. They want to be different, stand out, and break away from the traditional mailbox to call attention to their individuality."

Dahl's company tailors its product line to appeal to its coastal residents, as many of its mailboxes have a nautical/aquatic theme with products in the shape of dolphins, manatees, seahorses and lighthouses. Most of her unusual designs, she said, are the result of customer requests.

Barb Seefeld, owner-operator of Mahvelous Mailboxes in Menomomee Falls, Wis., has sold a variety of boxes since opening her shop seven years ago. Seefeld, a former letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, saw a demand for decorative boxes while in her hometown of Germantown, Wis.

"I saw a lot of junky mailboxes in front of beautiful homes, and it made no sense," Seefeld said. "I looked in my local hardware stores, and I figured there had to be something decent. I couldn't find anything, so I went to the library and looked up mailbox dealers ... I called one and got a whole education on mailboxes. I discovered lots of other sources and suppliers, and I found that the mailbox world was a wide-open field."

Among her favorite designs is a baseball-bat proof model, which Seefeld describes as "extremely durable." Her more recent orders have included a mailbox in the shape of a tractor, another resembling an oven, and one in the form of a motorcycle. Seefeld is working on a quote for each one, but estimates they may cost at least $300 each.

The number of merchants offering unusual mailboxes has grown in recent years, especially because of the Internet, according to Seefeld, who has clients throughout the United States, as well as in England, Puerto Rico, Italy and Argentina.

Client requests, according to Dahl, Seefeld and Burwell, have ranged from animals, vehicles and body parts to sports helmets depicting a favorite team. Burwell recalled a couple of custom orders that were of special interest, one with a Las Vegas connection.

One was received from a couple who had just won a sizable jackpot at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"They put a down payment on a house in Bedford, Ohio, and they wanted an MGM mailbox," Burwell said. "I looked it up in an architectural magazine, and that helped me come up with the emerald green color and the lion I needed to design for it."

Another memorable project came from a Colorado resident who wanted a mailbox that was a replica of his home. The house was made of steel, and so was the mailbox.

"He wanted every skylight and every fixture built into the mailbox," Burwell said. "We even painted an image of his cat in the front window. I remember when I looked at it closely, I could see the orange and white cat between the curtains."

Costing $3,500, the mailbox is the most expensive Burwell has created due to the materials used, the painstaking detail and the time involved.

Novelty boxes typically cost between $400 and $600.S U N D A Y , A P R I L 7 , 2 0 0 2

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