STAINED GLASS GARDEN GATE

You must "strike while the iron is hot". You've all heard that expression or something similar. That phrase is relevant to this post. Our neighbours recently installed an onground pool in their backyard. Part of their makeover included a new, custom built and very expensive gate. Very lovely - but pricey. That made me think of our own bleak and narrow entrance to our backyard. And then a light bulb moment - I had an idea, a vision, a plan! We have a Tiffany inspired panel that used to hang in a window in our old house. (Not unlike this panel)

It's been stored in that "place under the stairs" since we've moved here.

I shared my new gate idea with Hubs and he was 'game' and willing to take on the challenge, immediately. The inception of my gate and the execution were going to be taking place almost simultaneously (a rare occurrence indeed). Unfortunately, my camera has been on the fritz this week. You can all relate to not wanting to miss a single opportunity to photograph some 'change' in your home as it will eventually become a blog post. I was torn and contemplated waiting 'till the camera was fixed but I had to "strike while the iron was hot"!!! The sun and the moon were aligned so we went ahead, without any 'before' pictures to share.

I determined we could closely duplicate what we had done with the pergola screen that we built in the spring.


Hubs removed the gate and cut out the opening for the stained glass panel. He then framed the panel and inserted it back into the gate.



Then with a jigsaw, the top pieces were cut to replicate the other pergola screen. The design had to be altered to accommodate the brick wall.


I purchased a new gate handle and painted the door with the leftover paint from our pergola screen project.



This was a very inexpensive and fairly quick undertaking. We already had the Tiffany panel; the wood and paint were leftovers and the gate handle only cost me $8.00.


Our house is east facing which means the sun sets in the back of our home. What's really neat is when the sun is setting, it glows through the stained glass panel and looks quite pretty.

I'm going to be linking this post to Cindy's Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/2010/09/show-and-tell-friday.html

Cheers ~ Lisa ~