Written by Heather Zubiate
Dear reader, if you are an avid follower of TWH, then you will know that
I hate construction, because I'm not good at it. But for some reason, that doesn't stop me from constructing stuff around here. And as usual, I forgot to get a real good "Before" shot before I started this project. But if you use your imagination, you can look at the right side of this fence and extend it where the big hole is.
For this project, my goal, my mission, is to turn this dreary, and plain fence into a stunning Mission style show stopper. Well, I want to make it look as nice as possible with a Mission flavor with out spending a lot of money. For this project, my right hand man is my eldest son, you can see him in the garage hard at work, manning the compound miter saw. I had him cut the length of some boards, and to cut the bottoms at a 22 1/2 degree bevel in an effort to shed rain water.
I hate construction, because I'm not good at it. But for some reason, that doesn't stop me from constructing stuff around here. And as usual, I forgot to get a real good "Before" shot before I started this project. But if you use your imagination, you can look at the right side of this fence and extend it where the big hole is.
For this project, my goal, my mission, is to turn this dreary, and plain fence into a stunning Mission style show stopper. Well, I want to make it look as nice as possible with a Mission flavor with out spending a lot of money. For this project, my right hand man is my eldest son, you can see him in the garage hard at work, manning the compound miter saw. I had him cut the length of some boards, and to cut the bottoms at a 22 1/2 degree bevel in an effort to shed rain water.
After the cuts were made, it was time to clean the boards by scraping off years of dirt and crude with the wire brush. That took some time and quite a bit of elbow grease, my elbows are still sore by the way. However, it was well worth the effort, the boards actually looked great after their brushing, then it was time for their coat of semi-transparent stain. This was the biggest purchase we made, it was around $30. I know, I could have bought new boards cheaper, but I can use this stain on other fence boards to make them look new, and so, it will pay for itself. Besides, I hate throwing something away unless it's actually past saving. After these boards dried, it was time to put them up.
What a difference huh? The two boards on the right fence panel were recently replaced, they suffered a brutal attack from many blows via a baseball that was hurled at them by my eldest son.
Then the green half strips went up, they are the same color as our house. We have quite a few gallons left, so why not use it up by incorporating it in my design? Then the upper cross bar went up to complete the look and to help sturdy up the fence. Now that looks much better, and it's coming together slowly, too slowly for me but I need the week to recoup my aching arms. I'm hoping they would be fully operational by the weekend so I can finish this project.
And there it is, the nearly finished Mission style fence. Yes, I said nearly finished. You see I had something special planned, which took a while to complete, and it was very taxing on my arms. By the end of this project, I should be quite a bit stronger.
At last, after a day of cutting 6 or 7 soda cans, this is what I fashioned from them, some jewelry for our fence. I went on YouTube and watched a few videos on how to make them. I originally thought of using some old gingerbread templates my mom had made, they were made form heavier printer's plate, but then I had an idea to search YouTube and found the much easier soda can version. After some hammer finish copper spray paint and some copper wire pounded flat, this is the finished product! Pretty nice if I do say so myself! They were a bit fiddly to put up, the leaf pieces are in two pieces and are kept in place with a lock washer that pins them between the rose and the fence board. I pained the center screw with some black paint. I had just enough of the copper spray paint, I was spraying fumes on the last leaf!
And there it is, the finished fence! Not bad for about $35...regrettably I had to buy the lock washers besides the semi-transparent stain. Other than that, I used everything we already had and now our fence is quite nice, all be it crooked. Like I said, I'm not good at construction. A special thanks goes to my son, who has the enthusiasm and patience to work with me, thanks boy. And now, here is another before and after shot....
REad MOre....