Finally get the garden gates up

After having a pair of custom gates made over a year ago for the front of the house I have finally got around to painting them and having them hung. With two children and the Lab we seriously needed a gate on the front drive. Unfortinately due to my obsession for pale pastels, it really needed to be of a wooden construction so that it could be painted.

We bought the gates from our local agricultural supplier here in North Devon and as expected they did not offer the exact size we required and told us that the gates would have to be custom made. That sounds expensive; however we were very surprised when the Sales person told us it would be around £45. My husband surprised at the price asked whether that was for both sides, how embarrassing. Next we purchased the furniture as it is called and this includes some industrial size hinges, bracing brackets and latch as well as fixings.

After having the gate sat in our garage for the last year, I decided it was time to paint it. As it was an agricultural gate it was quite rough adding to the charm. Using some course sand paper I smoothed down any really rough edges and prepared for the undercoat.

The priming coat was from Farrow and Ball which I slapped on, applying two coats over the day. After 48 hours I then applied the first paint coat. The paint I used for the gate was Lichen No 19 Exterior Egg Shell by Farrow and Ball and applied three coats.

The next stage was just a case of waiting for some dry weather. April did not disappoint and one Saturday I gave Hubby his orders to put up the gate. After five hours of numerous complaints constant muttering about not having the right tools for the job and something to do with the pillars not being parallel, the gates were finally up.

All I need to do now is repaint the wall, which for some reason where we live seem to constantly get covered in green algae. So next week, off to the Agricultural suppliers for some Sodium Hydrochloride to kill and bleach the algae.