Homebuilt Timber Garden Arch

School holidays have now finished 😦 We were pretty busy while they were on, so apologies for not posting this last week when I intended!

If you follow me on Instagram (#saw.it.pinned.it.did.it.blog) you may have seen a photo I posted when construction began on our new garden arch.

I originally had a cheap, flimsy metal arch which I added about a year ago. It had blown over several times when we’ve had strong winds, although I did make it more secure and it fared better after that. But it was still not very ‘substantial’. Where I had it needed something a bit more solid and welcoming.

Inspired by our friends who also recently rebuilt their arch, planning began. I thought we would construct it from pallets. Have you seen all the things you can build from a pallet? They look great! And neighbours are doing some renovations and have plenty of pallets available, so we didn’t even need to source any. But the Resident Handyman had some timber left from when we built our deck a few years ago and wanted to use that. So treated pine it is.

I added some ideas to my Garden Pinterest board, but we basically made it up as we went along.

*Warning! Photo overload ahead!*

Firstly, the uprights went in alongside the old arch. You can just make it out in these photos.

We used the height of the old arch as a measure for the new one.

I considered making crosses up the sides, but thought it would be easier for plants to grow over it if we didn’t.

It’s all nailed and screwed together so it’s very sturdy. We’re all joking (but slightly serious as well) that it will last longer and be worth more than the house!

This was completed over two weekends, but we did do plenty of other things on the weekends too. So really, it was a fairly quick job.

And I didn’t throw out the old arch, I rehomed it! It is now opposite the new one, against the edge of the garden. It is under a large pine tree, and not a lot grows there. I recently moved all our potted orchids here. They came from the Resident Handyman’s parents’ home. I also picked up this chair and table set from the side of the road. It’s pretty rusted, but the bits you can see are still good 🙂 It’s a bit hard to see the arch as it’s all green in this part of the garden, but you can just make it out. I have red fairy lights on the Magnolia to the left of this picture, so I can’t really put more over the arch. But I transplanted some Cemetery Rose stems from the back garden to grow over it. Hope they survive and flower!

The next step? Should I stain the new arch, or leave it to weather naturally to a lovely grey?

I think you’ve had enough photos for now, so I’ll show you what I did in the next post!

Linking up with:

The Pin Junkie, Love Bakes Good Cakes – Freedom Fridays, Table and Hearth – Think and Make Thursday, Domesblissity – Thriving on Thursdays, A Daily Cup of Mrs Olsen – Share Your Cup Thursday, Katherine’s Corner – Thursday Favourite Things, Sincerely, Paula – No Rules Weekend Blog Party,  A Tray of Bliss – Five Star Frou Frou,  Chic on a Shoestring – Flaunt it Friday, The Life of Jennifer Dawn – A Little Bird Told Me, Natasha in Oz – Sundays Down Under, Celebrate and Decorate – Celebrate it Sunday, Girl Creative, Thoughts From Alice – Sundays at Home, The Foley Fam – Sunday Funday, The Pinterested Parent, Julie’s Lifestyle – Cooking and Crafting with J & J, Tip Junkie – Tip me Tuesday