Replies

1. 
   SCFrankland | Aug 12, 2003 06:00pm | #1

   Check out the links below.

   http://www.woodmagazine.com/

   http://www.absolutelyfreeplans.com/OUTDOOR%20PROJECTS/outdoor_projects.htm

   http://store.yahoo.com/plansnow/arbor.html

   http://the3house.com/plans/search/build_pages.php?&free=no&type=photo&browser=ie&category=Outdoor_Items&page=1

   Scott C. Frankland

   "This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"

1. 
   user-7006886 | Aug 13, 2003 08:14am | #2

   Thank you, Scott, for posting all of those sites. Now I can choose. I especially like the one at yahoo.Eroomgardener

1. 
   SCFrankland | Aug 14, 2003 02:49am | #3

   Not a problem that is what we are all here for.Scott C. Frankland

   "This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"

2. 
   YesMaam27577 | Aug 14, 2003 03:01am | #4

   I did the one in the attached pic. Althought it is the first large one I've done, I didn't use anybody's plans.

   I just made the posts fit with the fence, which pre-existed. Then I made the "rafters" fit the spacing of the posts, and the "toppers" come close to matching that same spacing.

   Do yo have an existing fence, or maybe a deck railing? If so, the arbor design could complement them, lending some visual unity to the yard.

   As for the design of the end cuts, best I can tell, it doesn't matter much what design you use, so long as you use something other than a square or diagonal-line cut (which is just too boring). I used a rather simple ogee on this one. I've used other designs on others.

   Best wishes -- and know that your DH is gonna have fun doing this, even if he makes it sound otherwise.

   Vast projects should not be founded on half vast ideas.

   
1. 
   user-7006886 | Aug 14, 2003 07:59pm | #5

   Your pergola is wonderful! It is a really great design and very inspiring.Thank you for posting it. Now, I'll have to think of some shapes for the ends--I really like curves so there will be no straight cuts. 

   Do you have an existing fence, or maybe a deck railing? If so, the arbor design could complement them, lending some visual unity to the yard.

   I am really glad you mentioned that. That will be important when choosing my design. Right now we do not have a fence, but we want to put one in some day. Meanwhile, I have been hesitating, thinking that a wood arbor may seem alone and look isolated until we get around to putting in the fence. But then I do have a need for it.

   A few years ago I had put in a cheap (at the time) nice looking, but plain white metal arch arbor to support two climbing roses. One leg rusted out (I have a temporary makeshift support) so I know it won't last another year. The existing arbor doesn't have any substance and looks out of place. The roses are planted with one on each side of the sidewalk leading from the back driveway to the house. I hope that putting a "substantial" wood arbor at the entrance to the sidewalk and to the right of my perennial border would give more of a "entrance to the garden" look, so visitors would be pulled into the garden visually and maybe go beyond the sidewalk into the garden and look around, instead of heading straight down the sidewalk and turning right onto the porch and to the back door. (sorry I don't have pictures.) Also, when we are outside working, visitors tend to stay in the parking lot near their cars and look at the back of the garden abutting the driveway thinking that is all there is to the garden. The garden really needs a fence, at least along the side of the driveway/border.

   Another problem is that I really do not want to fence in the whole courtyard, but I am not sure about how to end the fence so it doesn't look funny or lost(especially since the yard is rather large). Perhaps, I could place some Alberta Spruce (deer proof) at the end of the fence, curving them toward the back of the courtyard? I haven't figured this part out yet.

   Sorry for the long talk here. This is something I have been trying to work out for quite a while and as DIY'ers, it has been a challenge! I spend a lot of time at Over the Fence (come visit anytime), but I thought this would be the right place to get some help with this.Eroomgardener

1. 
   YesMaam27577 | Aug 14, 2003 09:09pm | #6

   Thanks for the compliments on the pergola.

   And you don't need to apologize for rambling on with design thoughts and questions. That is how good designs are born. And that is why when I posted the picture, I also posted some questions that you needed to think about.

   Also, note that the proportions of the pergola that I built might not work for your garden entrance. As I mentioned, the pre-existing fence added a number of constraints to my design process. My vertical posts are 6X6's, because that's what the fence was done with. The total height of mine (over 11') was determined by the height of the top of the window on the house. The other dimensions were determined from those constraints. The size of the lumber used in the canopy was chosen to look good with the larger posts, and the high canopy.

   And the vision that I started with was not a cozy comfortable garden. It was a "curb appeal" issue for a house.

   One of the classes I took during my previous career, was "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". That course taught me to start every project "with the end in mind". Not just the end of the project.  In your mind, design a garden that is to die for -- literally. A place that is so comfortable for you, that it really is the place that you want to die.

   From that, develop a vision for the entrance to that garden. Talk about the envisioned garden, and its entrance -- with your friends, your neighbors, your business associates. Draw pictures, even if you have no artist's talent. Draw and talk, the redraw and talk some more. As you talk, the vision will become more refined in your mind.

   And when it's finite enough to build something, then have at it. And post pictures -- we love them.

   But here's the trick. Once you are about half done building the garden you can die in, you MUST change the vision. The vision must grow along with you, and with the garden itself.

   Vast projects should not be founded on half vast ideas.

1. 
   user-7006886 | Aug 14, 2003 09:46pm | #7

    In your mind, design a garden that is to die for -- literally. A place that is so comfortable for you, that it really is the place that you want to die.

   Thank you for sharing those words of wisdom, and I really mean that! I am now beginning to visualize more clearly where the patio (another idea I have been working on) should be and it suddenly got much larger (now for the shape . . .)! Your words have freed me. I will over time, merge the ideas shared from others with those of my own. But thanks for reminding me that my garden paradise is my vision, not that of others, but inspired from all ideas. It is transforming my thoughts already. Thank you again.

   Eroomgardener