Add personality to your yard with
these incredible projects.

Open Arbor Materials

If your family, like this one, thinks of landscaping and gardening as ways of life and expressions of creative energy, consider creating a fence and an arbor like this one.

• Paintbrush
• Posthole digger
• Measuring tape
• Pencil
• Level
• Carpenter's square
• Circular saw or table saw
• Jigsaw
• Hammer
• Cordless drill/screwdriver
• Spade bit (1/2-inch) for drill
• Pipe cutter

Skill Level: Intermediate carpentry skills Time: Two weekends Estimated Cost: $250

 

Textured shower glass lends a
pleasing pattern without blocking
sunlight.

• Four 4x4s, 10 feet long, for posts (A)
• Six 2x4s, 30 inches long, for top rails (B), middle rails (C), and bottom rails (D)
• Eight 1x2s, 30 inches long, for middle-rail cleats (E) and bottom-rail cleats (F)
• Four 2x2s, 30 inches long, for top pipe rail (G) and bottom pipe rail (H)
• Fourteen 1x4s, 30 inches long, for slats (I)
• Two 2x6s, 34 inches long, for crosspieces (J)
• Two 2x6s, 76 inches long with ends jigsawed per template, inset, above right, for beams (K)
• Four 2x6s, 40 inches long, for rafters (L)
• One 2x6, 42 inches long, for ridge (M)
• Two 2x2s, 35 inches long, for ridge cleats (N)
• Two 2x2s, 35 inches long, for crosspiece cleats (O)
• Four 40-inch lengths of decorative molding (P)
• Crushed rock (enough for 6 inches in the bottom of each posthole)
• 8 bags concrete mix
• 2-inch galvanized or stainless-steel deck screws
• 3-inch galvanized or stainless-steel deck screws or 10d galvanized finishing nails
• Six 40-inch lengths of 1/2-inch copper pipe for roof
• Eight 42-inch lengths of 1/2-inch copper pipe for sides
• Exterior-grade stain or sealer
• Verdigris finish for copper (optional)