Sometimes you find inspiration in the old, the shabby, the broken down bits of life. After living in my home for fifteen years, I wanted a bit more curb appeal and I think my hubby and I pulled it off with the addition of this Garden Gate. My lovely neighbour, Sarah, salvaged this old pine door from the alleyway years ago; she never quite found the right use for it in her home. The door was an odd size, 29.5 inches wide. Enter opportunity. I took the door off of Sarah’s hands one year ago and debated building shelving out of it, turning it into a gigantic picture frame and then it hit me...a new Garden Gate. We were due for an update, the previous gate sat much further back along our neighbour’s fence line and was very old and shabby. Shabby bad, not shabby good. There was nothing chic about the old gate. It was old, run down, the paint was peeling and the latch no longer worked. It was time!
I got out my trusty red paint and between thunderstorms, I added coat after coat. We primed this old, somewhat damaged door and then added four coats of red and a protective clear coat. The wonderful thing about shabby decor is that imperfections are a thing of beauty. Don’t worry about bubbles on your surface, little dings that happen along the way; especially for a piece that is going to find its home outside, this door is going to age and become even more beautiful. If it doesn’t look more beautiful by next year, I’ll repaint it, or distress it.
I need to warn you, the one thing that happens if you’re into shabby decor like myself, is that you collect things. As I said already, I held onto this door for one year while I decided where it might find a home...the door knob that doesn’t fit on any standard door...that was in my basement for two years. Same problem...the door knob literally doesn’t fit on any door. It didn’t fit on this one either. Opportunity. Luckily, I have a crafty Husband that aims to please. This is a gate, it doesn’t need a functioning door knob, it has a handy dandy latch. The problem with the door knob was that the interior hardware was much too long for a standard thickness door. My hubby decided that plumbing pipe fittings were the best way to fill the space between the front and the back of the door knobs. It was genius and so very shabby. I love it. The door knob can be used to pull or push to close but the door knobs don’t actually turn, in this case, that doesn’t matter. This would not be a perfect fix inside a home but for our purpose, it was ideal.
Next issue with a Garden Gate made from an interior door. It’s heavy. We needed a strong structure. I wanted to mimic Crown Molding with the frame. We had to build an outdoor door jamb that would withstand high winds.
See how shabby my old gate is? It’s the ugly peeling white fence in the background. This new gate has allowed us to reclaim so much space. My husband built us a very strong structure with posts sunk into the ground, four feet and secured the other posts to our very strong deck. The braces across the top and to the sides added more strength and stability. The brace across the top was yet again, an opportunity for decor. We stacked boards to create the appearance of Crown Molding. It was at this point that I looked at my husband with a worried look and said, “is our lawn mower going to fit through the gate!?!” It did...here’s a tip, friends, check that before you build your fence gate. An un-mowed lawn wasn’t going to make me popular in my neighbourhood.
This poor guy, bless his heart for coming along for the ride. He nailed it with this project. I couldn’t be happier with the results. However, I wasn’t done yet!!! A Shabby Garden Gate needs something really special to complete the look. Lucky me, I have a bestie that knows where to find all the coolest kitschy decor.
The sign to complete my Garden Gate was too perfect. My girlfriend really gets me. I’m one of those gals that doesn’t take herself too seriously. When she saw this metal sign, she called me over for approval and bought it for me as a birthday gift. I couldn’t be happier. I love it!
Totally perfect. Totally me. Worth the bother.
Our easy open latch was tied to a string and my hubby, again, drilled out a space for yet another pipe fitting that the string to pulls through.
This guy earned a much deserved break...alongside my sister’s healing dog...poor Stevie was attacked by another dog, halfway through our project. Its been a long week but I’m so pleased with how everything turned out.
Feel free to comment below with any questions, concerns or if you just liked this Big Idea! Thanks for reading!
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