IT’S Here!!! Custom Garden Gate Install 🌟

Hey, hi, how's it going? It is a very, very exciting day today. We're getting the gate, meaning we can put up the fence the rest of the way. So I had a custom gate made, and the guy who made it, he's one of my clients, and I cut his hair, and he does some woodwork, and I asked him, I was like, hey, can you make me a gate? He said yes, made me a custom gate, and he's bringing it up right now. He should be here probably in about 15 minutes, which is very exciting, and just a little heads up, I spilt things on my shirt today, so we're just gonna ignore that. My shirt is got stains on it. I didn't even show you right there, but you're gonna see stains on my shirt. I'm gonna look like a slob. I had this shirt on for all of five minutes I was outside, and immediately it got stained because there's so much pollen in the air, and everything is covered in yellow. Anyways, that's not the point of this whole story. He's gonna be here in a few minutes with the gate, and then that means today we're going to run into town, go pick up some 4x4s and some cement, and we're going to hopefully be able to hang the gate up by the end of the day today. We'll see, because we have to make sure that the cement is all cured and everything, but I'm very excited about it. It's a, like, wood color. It's kind of craftsman-y-ish style. It's gonna be really pretty, and we'll see it together for the first time. And this is the side yard over here, and we've just been using these lattice pieces here just to make sure, um, that Prairie doesn't run away, so that way she can be outside still. She really likes the lattice, because then she can see through it, but the gate is four feet wide, so it's a very, very wide gate. It's gonna be as wide as this walkway is here, so that way you can, like, come in and, like, feel just really solid, really nice in here. So what we have to do is we've got to sink another 4x4 into the ground right here, and then we'll put fence boards there, and then the gate will get hung right there. We also do have to get hardware for that, so we'll see how that goes. All right, here's the gate. He just dropped it off. It looks so good. Oh my gosh. Okay, so you can see it's a little bit bigger than the fences, and it's, it's resting on the concrete. It's gonna be raised up a little bit more also, so that way there's, like, kind of a gap under there so we can open it, which is exactly what I wanted. We wanted the gate to be, like, I think it's, like, six or eight inches, uh, taller than the actual fence. Um, we did a little curve right here, and then you can see the lattice work that we did in here. The inspo photo that I showed him, it was going to be, uh, see-through, and I told him, I was like, I don't think I want a see-through. I don't want people to look in here, and so it's lattice on this side, and it's lattice on that side. We're gonna sink a, uh, 4x6 into the ground, so that way it is held up. This is a very solid gate. It's four feet wide. It's a very, very big gate. Let me show you the other side. Brent's It's two different types of wood, and then you can see here, this is how it's all, like, joined together, and it is so smooth, and then he used some stainless steel nails to put the lattice work in and hold it together. He did a beautiful job on this. Okay, it's been a couple of hours now, um, and we sunk a 4x6 post into the ground. That's what this gate is going to attach to, and so you guys can see how huge this gate actually is. I am 5'9", and so this gate is absolutely massive, and it's resting on the ground currently. It's actually going to be rested. It's going to be lifted up about an inch off the ground, so that way we always have clearance, um, so it's going to be even taller by another inch, so it's a solid wood gate. It's absolutely beautiful. He did an amazing job on it, and we just got back from Home Depot. Brent sunk the post in, and we tested some stain colors. Let me show you guys kind of what we're thinking. So, he tested a whole bunch of colors. You can see the stick, plus we have a whole other test stick. He brought us a whole bunch of sample pieces of wood, so this wood is different than this wood. It's two different types of wood, um, and it's already beautiful as it is, but we are going to stain it, and we're not going to do something crazy, so we're kind of liking this color right here. Um, this is this wood right here, and then this is the lattice pieces and, like, this section here and the sides, um, and so this is kind of what we're thinking it'll end up looking like. So, it's not super dark. It's actually pretty close to this. It's just brown. These pieces right here, they did take on, um, some darkness, but I think that we're going to be okay with that. Honestly, like, those like that, it actually looks really, really good, and we bought a bunch of, like, stains. So, we've gone through, I think, seven stains is what we went through, uh, to find the right color that we liked, and we just thought that this was, like, a really nice brown color. It's kind of like a cool brown color. We'll pop the name up on the screen, because I already forgot which one it was, because we've done a million samples, and I didn't write the names on these last three that we did. This one, why is it so green? It was not that color from the sample. I did kind of like this top one, but it's a little bit too dark and a little bit too blue. So, this is the piece that we're gonna go with, um, and it should be really beautiful on here. We're going to let the post cure this evening, and we're going to, um, come back in the morning, and in the morning, we're going to finish building the fence. We've got two by fours in, and then we're gonna put the fence boards up, and then we're going to attach the gate. No, then we're gonna stain the gate, and then we're going to attach the gate, and then that means that... oh my god, I have butterflies over it. It means that the whole side yard is, like, buttoned up with big projects, which is really nice. I mean, you could stand in our driveway and look straight back at us, and it's not great. Um, and so this is going to just, it's going to give us a bunch of privacy, which is really nice, and it's going to be very secure for her, which is very nice. The last gate that we built was medium at best. Oh, we'll be back in the morning to get to work on this very, very exciting project. The next day, I'm gonna get to staining. It's so windy out. This is the one that we're gonna use. It's by Behr. It's called Rustic Brown. It's so windy out. I'm so sorry if the audio is garbage. Um, we're gonna set it up, get to staining. Brent is going to start building the fence, so he's going to put in the two by fours, and then put the fence boards up, and then we can attach the gate to the two by, to the four by six. While I was staining the gate, Brent worked and got the fence ready for fence boards, so he's gonna start that right now, but it's looking so good just in a few minutes. It's actually been about 25-30 minutes, so it's been a half hour. So we've got three two by fours in there to help with shoring. When we first started building our fences, we only did two, and then we quickly realized you definitely need to do three. So there's three of them. Um, that's going to help it so the boards don't, like, bend. It's also going to help with bracing, and then there's a string right across there, and that's going to make it so that these, the fence boards are going to be level all the way across. We will go ahead and cap it off, and then on the top of this, he also did these angle brackets, and these angle brackets are just going to help with even more support, um, especially down the road because the gate is so heavy. So there's going to be, there's brackets on all of these right here. So next step is going to be putting the fence boards on, and then we can go ahead and put the hardware, which is sitting over there for the gate, onto the fence, and then we can attach the gate, which is really exciting. And while he was doing that, I went ahead and stained this, and it's still wet. So some of it's a little bit darker, some of it's, like, that's really dark because I think that was, I stained that one last, I think. Anyways, um, it's looking really, really good. We still have to flip it over, do the other side, but I'm very happy with the stain color. It actually looks really good, um, in comparison to the gazebo, so they kind of, like, go together. And what's really nice is I like this stain because it doesn't look like it's a brand new gate. It actually kind of looks like it's been here for a while, which is really nice. The color is called rustic brown, so that does, that does make sense. It does look like it's a, I don't know, I kind of want, like, an old English-style gate, and I think that we're achieving that. So this side that I stained first is going to be the inside gate, um, which is, like, the side that you won't really see a whole lot. So I had a little, like, learning curve on this, um, making sure that I'm always going with the wood grain, um, and this wood is really dry, so it's just sucking up all that moisture. So we're gonna go in with a top coat also, um, but we'll do that once the gate is hanging up, um, and it should be, should be easy. We'll just go with the same thing that we used on the gazebo. Next up is fence boards. This side is done, and the other side is also framed out, which is so nice. We've got to paint it now. We're going to go in, and we're going to use some putty, and we're going to fill all of the holes that are here, so you won't see any of that. We'll get a nice coat of white on all of this, and then, um, we can move on to hanging the gate up, which looks really good. Um, I definitely learned a lot with staining, um, so with this specific stain, I learned that I needed to move really fast with it, so I put it on really heavy and then wipe it off as fast as I could, and you can see, like, there's little pieces right there, like, that didn't get wiped off super fast, um, so there's just little bits and pieces, but it is what it is. It's fine. It looks really, it doesn't even matter. It looks really good, um, and things like that I don't think are anything that people will actually end up noticing once the gate is up, but I'm very happy with this brown color. It's a very just, like, kind of a soft brown color, and it's, it's very neutral, and it actually matches the gazebo really, really nicely. So we're getting ready to paint, and we're gonna use the paint color that we use for pretty much everything. It's called Falling Snow. It's our house color, too. It's, it's basically white. It's pure white, but it's not, it doesn't lean blue, it doesn't lean purple, it doesn't lean yellow, it's just, like, a nice white color. And then for the inside of the gate, I'm going to use this one right here by Valspar. This is called Soft Pelican, and it's kind of a more, I don't know, it's not so white. So you can kind of see the difference. So this is the Falling Snow color, and then that is the Soft Pelican. So it's kind of a, it's still white, but it's more like a, a creamy white. It's the color that the, um, bench is, that I have by the aviary. Um, and so we're going to, I want to paint the inside fence that color. Um, I have some plans for this area, and so I would like to, the black fence right here, it's going away. Not all of the black fence, just a portion of the black fence is going away. So Soft Pelican is going to go on this fence panel, this fence panel today, and then I'm not going to paint any of this. So I want to paint all of this that Soft Pelican color, and I'm going to paint all the way up to where the patio is to right there. And then on the other side, it's going to be black. So it's gonna look weird for, like, a minute. Um, I'm not planning on painting today, but I want all of this to be this, like, Soft Pelican color. And, um, I do plan on, I have this plan. I'm gonna put lattice up here, lattice here, and then kind of have, like, a little arch right here. So it's kind of gonna make all of this, like, a room. And so this will be a soft white color, kind of bouncing off the house, and then when you step into the other side, all of a sudden the fence is a black color. And I have a reason why I'm doing that. Um, I don't want to give it all away, but we're gonna do it, and it's gonna look good. You just have to trust the process. So, um, we're gonna get to get to painting now. Like, my least favorite project. The fence is painted, and now we're going to bring the gate in and try to attach the gate. The fence is not painted on the other side, so we still have to paint the other side, but at least we got a lot of this done. Um, and then I started over here a little bit. It's not obviously done. I'm going to use the sprayer to do all of this over here. Um, it just needs to not be a windy day. And then on this side, we have to touch up there and there. Um, this has already been fully painted. Um, we just decided to add the trim piece here, and then we added trim here, here, down below, and up above. So we have to paint all of that, obviously. Um, but next step is going to be getting the gate in. We got the fence all painted, and you guys, I don't know why this man puts up with me, because I changed my mind on something. So the gate is up. It swings super beautifully. It's, like, perfect, but, um, I can't close it right now. I'll close it in the morning until you guys in the morning. Um, the paint is wet, and if we close the gate, then it's going to get wet paint on the gate. That was a tongue twister, and we don't want to do that, but I, um, I'm changing my mind on something. So we framed out this right here. What I would like to do is I want to mimic the, like, lattice work that's on here. So, like, I really, really like this, but I want to mimic it. I want to take these two panels here, and I want to mimic it over here. Oh gosh, he's gonna fight me. He's, he's already back there. He's ripping some wood. Um, we're going to do a piece. You can hear the saw. We're going to do a piece that goes across here, and then, um, we'll do, like, individual slats in there, and I might just do just, like, one lattice piece. So it's, like, one here. I'll do it so the squares are about the same size as those squares, but we'll just do one across the top, and that'll give the fence some more dimension, and it'll make it so it ties into the gate even more beautifully. After we already finished, you guys, it has been so hot, and we were in the sun cooking, and I didn't put sunscreen on, and I realized, like, maybe 20 minutes ago, and that's when we were in the shade, but whatever. It is what it is. No sunscreen. It was just, it was a rough day, and listen, you can see how beet red I am. We're cooking. We're almost done. We're gonna get it all finished. We're gonna get everything all cleaned up, and then we'll be back in the morning and show you guys what it looks like in the morning, but we're gonna do the lattice work together right now. Also, look at my petunias up there. They're doing great. Okay, the gate's not shut all the way, um, so that way we don't actually get paint on it, but look how good that looks. Like, that looks great. It looks just very clean, but I love how that looks, and then all that kind of ties into down there, or up there, and then I was also looking at, okay, so all of these slats that you see right there, what if we just continued the strip all the way down to the bottom? I think they're called, like, furring strips? I think that they're called, like, furring strips, um, and so then we have that, like, one that goes across, and then a whole bunch that go just down. I just feel like that would look sharp. I don't know. We're gonna do the top over here and then see how we feel, um, and then maybe cut a couple and just put them up there just to see what it looks like. We finished the gate, we finished the fence, and it looks so good. I could not be happier with this entire project. It took us, um, basically two days to get this whole thing done, um, with having to run into town a few times, but it was totally worth it. It looks so much better than I even imagined it. I still have a few more things that maybe I'd like to do, but we're gonna hold off on those. We're calling it done. We're finishing this project for now. So you can see, we did finish all of the, like, faux latticework up top here on both sides of the panels, and then I was even thinking about continuing these vertical pieces all the way down right here. Um, I don't know, just kind of, like, finish it off. I feel like the, like, the slats in between the fence boards kind of bugs me. I really like how that looks. It looks just super solid. Um, but we're gonna live with this for a few days and see how we feel about it. I'm very happy with it. The gate looks absolutely stunning. We're still waiting on hardware, so I need to get the hardware. It's coming. It's in the mail. It should be here relatively soon, hopefully, and then that means that we'll actually have a handle there. So I did order, like, a really nice, like, it's like a thumb latch handle, so you just, like, pop it down with your thumb. It's gonna be really pretty. It's, like, really thick, and, uh, I really like how this looks. It's kind of giving, like, craftsman style, which is perfect because our house is a craftsman. I just love it. I think it looks so pretty. It feels very grand. The gate is four feet wide, and it's over six feet tall, so it's, it's so perfect. It's so pretty, and then we did leave a little gap down below. Uh, there's a little over, there's, like, two inches is what it is that we left down there, and that's because the patio right here, it slopes, so that way water runs off, and so this gate is all the way open. It's still about a quarter of an inch to a half inch above. It's still about a half inch above the patio walkway, whatever it's called, on that side. This just looks so finished. It looks so sharp. Let's go in, and I'll show you guys the other side, and then you can see this side right here. It just looks so good, and I really love this paint color right here. It just feels richer. Um, the white was fine. It's just so stark white. Our house is white, and it's just such a bright white color that sometimes it's just a little, like, too intense, and so I'm really liking this, like, creamy color. I just think it's so pretty, um, and the paint color is called Soft Pelican. We've got the gate hardware up, and these hinges are super strong, so I think it was, like, 220 pounds is what each pair of these could hold, but it looks really great. So, I think my next step is going to be, I want to get a cover for the AC, and that'll help kind of mask this a little bit. I want to get something kind of tall that goes around the AC thing, and then also maybe a piece of, like, metal or lattice or something that goes right here, and then that'll block the view when we're sitting back here, and then these lattice pieces, I've got a whole plan for those, but I just could not be happier with how that looks. It just feels, like, grand. It feels custom. It is so pretty, and you cannot tell me that is not so incredibly inviting. We still have our mess back there, but I just love this. What a way to enter into the back garden. That's the view. How cool is that? And you really don't even see the trash cans when you enter anymore, which is really nice. Two of them are hidden back behind there, and then two of them, you have to literally turn all the way to the left. I mean, you'll see them when you first come in, but honestly, it's not that big of a deal. Everyone's got trash cans. This is just where they have to go. But look at that! I just could not be happier with how this looks. Oh, look at the birds! It is so pretty. This is just so inviting. The quality of the gate and the fence is just absolutely magical. So, I don't know, I just, how can you not want to be pulled back into this garden? Isn't that so pretty? I love the gate. And you're probably wondering, how much does a gate like this cost? We'll talk about it. So, this is a custom gate. It was made locally. It was made by one of my clients. I will say that I did get the friends and family discount on it, but I did talk to him about what he would normally charge for this gate. If you're wanting one of these gates, what he would charge is around $800. This is a very, very large gate. It's four feet wide, so it's a very big piece of gate. And it was made from like a solid beam from an old house. So, it's a very solid, special piece. It took him a little over two weeks to make this thing. And the craftsmanship is amazing. It smells so good. It smells absolutely amazing. He was going to stain it, but I told him that we would take care of the stain because we wanted to find something that kind of like fit for us. And to be honest, I probably should have let him stain it, but we stained it. And I learned a lot while staining this, but I'm still super happy with it. It's still so beautiful. I will put his contact information in the description down below if you're local and you're wanting some custom woodwork stuff. He does all kinds of custom woodwork. We're even in talks right now about him possibly making an outdoor dining table for us. We'll see how that goes. Our summers are just so hot here, so doing like a wood one outside and leaving it outside year-round does scare me a little bit. But the gate is amazing. It's so stunning. And what's amazing is I just sent him a inspo picture for what I wanted the gate to look like. And the inspo picture that I had sent him, this was all, there was no wood here. This was all just completely see-through. And I told him, I was like, I don't want it see-through. I do want it to be a solid piece, and I want the lattice on both sides. And he was able to totally do it, which is amazing. I think if it was see-through, it actually would have been really beautiful, but our street is just so busy that it just felt a little more like open. And I don't love that idea, but I do love having that like little bit of lattice work there. So I think this is where we say goodbye, you guys. The gate looks amazing. That fence looks amazing. It's all just like buttoning up and coming together now. And that kind of starts to put this entire patio project. So we've got the gate up, we've got the patio port, the sidewalk port, and that kind of just puts this entire thing together. And next is just getting plants in and irrigation and everything. So this is where we say goodbye. What a project. Thank you so much for visiting our garden. We'll see you all in the next one. Bye, you guys.