It is officially week three of the one room challenge and I am so excited to share our newly built garden fence and arbor! If you recall my original plans, building a fence and arbor were not included for our “backyard garden oasis”. However, once the greenhouse was complete it was hard to just leave the garden area as it was.

I knew that I wanted a fence, but it took me a little bit of time to figure out the type of fence that I wanted in this garden. I have seen fences for vegetable gardens that were beautiful with white picket fences, solid wood fences, chicken wire fences, etc. I really wanted to be able to see through to our garden so I knew we would have to utilize some type of wire fencing and to make it sturdy we would need to also incorporate wood.

So one day, I just decided to order all of the materials from our local hardware store for curbside pick up for our DIY garden fence. I had no idea what I was doing, but it seemed like the right stuff. I just went for it and then prayed that I ordered the right materials. Thankfully, it was the right stuff and as is the case for most of our DIY projects, he only had to go back to get a few more things!

To start we had to determine where all of the fence posts were going to be and mark them. After marking them, my husband used a post hole digger to dig the holes for the posts. He then used string and he made those little wooden stands to hold the strings in place to make sure that everything was square.

This guy (my husband) is always inventing or creating something to make the work easier. He regularly turns the boys bicycles into stationary bikes using a combination of weights and scrap wood. At this point in our relationship, I am usually not even surprised when I enter a room and find him rigging something up. Likewise, I bet he is no longer surprised when I walk into a room and say, “Babe, I have an idea!” I promise I say that probably several times a day!

He dug the holes about two feet into the ground because our fence is about three feet tall. Once all of the holes were dug we set the posts with concrete. Then came the hard part of waiting. I like for my projects to be instantly done. I enjoy the creation process, but I enjoy even more standing back and looking at the finished result. So waiting can be challenging for me. Thankfully, this concrete only needed a few hours to set, but we did give it a full day before we moved on to the next step.

He rigged some additional supports out of scrap wood for the posts to properly set in the concrete. He did not drill the screws all the way into the posts, you just want to make sure that the posts are stable enough to not move while you wait.

We got this little corner level from our local hardware store to ensure that all of the posts are straight. I never even considered how horrible it would look if some of the fence posts were crooked. Thankfully, I don’t have to think about that with this little tool. You just use a rubber band to attach the corner level to the post, make sure everything is level, and you are good to go! Your fence does not have to look like a DIY fence even though it is one!

Next, he attached these connector pieces to attach the top rail to the fence posts. I am sure there are several ways this could have been done, perhaps pocket holes? This way was pretty simple and straightforward and the top rails went on relatively quickly. You will definitely want to measure your desired height up the posts and use a level to ensure everything is even.

I ordered this basic and inexpensive fencing material from the hardware store. It is a similar material to chicken wire, but it is a bit thicker and made up of squares. We just attached it with one of those multi-use staple guns to the top rails and posts. Once that was done it was time to move on to cutting down the fence posts (we chose to cut them down to about 3 inches above the top rail) and to cut out the shape of the top of the arbor.

 

I had no clue how he was planning to create the shape for the top of the arbor. I was honestly floored when I saw that he actually used one of his weights to draw the shape on each side of the wood. I mean, it definitely makes sense and it was very resourceful.

After he had the shape he wanted, he went ahead and cut it out using a reciprocating saw and sanded it down. He had already installed the posts for the arbor when he did the rest of the fence. I painted the insides and once they dried he attached them to the posts using four nuts and bolts.

Then it was my turn to come in and paint everything. I did not anticipate this part to be so tedious. Looking back, I think it would have been better to paint everything prior to the fencing being attached to the posts. The front sides were fairly straightforward to paint, while the backside was a little trickier due to the fencing.

I also got over my fear of being on the ladder. For some reason, I just never trusted them. But we recently purchased this new multi-level ladder and I love it!

I also love the black paint. I feel like it just makes the space look and feel more modern and clean. Now everything back here has to get painted! Absolutely nothing is safe!

Look at the greenhouse and the raised bed garden together! Aren’t they so cute? Now you see why we had to do this project! It really makes it all feel and look more cohesive!

So what do you think? Should we build a double door gate? This space still feels pretty incomplete to me but I have a few ideas for that! Maybe a stone path through the garden? A pretty cut flower garden in front of the fence? There are so many possibilities and I am excited about each and every one of them! Now head on over to the One Room Challenge blog to check out what the other participants are up to this week!