Stick Garden Gate

Just days before the Snickerdoodle's 5th birthday party, I realized we really didn't want a bunch of kids running through the garden so I needed a garden gate STAT! We had talked about lots of different ideas but none had been inspiring enough to follow through with just yet. Then it hit me, we had a pile of sticks from removing a couple of trees in the back yard and I have a nail gun so it seemed like the project was a no brainer.

I measured out how big I wanted the gate and drew a rectangle on our back patio using some of the kids' sidewalk chalk. Then I started laying out sticks and using the nail gun to tack them together. I did a bunch then flipped the whole thing over and added some more. Are you eager to see the end result? Well, I'm thrilled with it:

The biggest challenge was definitely how to hinge it since the side wasn't perfectly straight but my dad is a wiz at stuff like this so I took advantage of his mad skills while he was in town visiting for the big birthday bash. He tinkered with it for a good long time but I've gotta say, it works beautifully and looks great. Here's a close-up of his handy work in case you need some inspiration for a stick gate of your own:

He used a system of these clamps that could go around the sticks and then screwed into the gate hinge you see there. He was able to get the lower hinge attached at two points. I found that after about a month of use, the top needed to be a little more secure so I did add a screw through the hole you see in the hinge hardware and into a stick I added in (not pictured here).

Finally, here's the gate from the garden side. I'm totally loving the rustic feel and will spray it with some satin poly topcoat when things dry out around here. I don't think it'll last for more than a few years but I change my mind about decor enough that I'm pretty sure I'll be ready for something else by then anyway.

Thank you for reading,
Julie