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Our backyard garden transformation is moving along. A little bit slower on some of it but impressively good on other components of it 🙂 My hubby had surprised me with building a garden arbor in a day! I thought it would be a project for a couple of weekends but here we are. With a new beautiful feature in our backyard! Here we are sharing how to build a garden arbor in a day 🙂
In my previous post I was asking for your thoughts on whether to purchase a pre-made garden arch or build it ourselves from scratch. However, when we went to a store to get the one we were thinking of, it was not available.
Soooo,
We decided to build it 🙂 Yaaay!
I am so glad we did! It has added so much charm to the backyard! Well… as you can see the area is still a bit messy but you will need to take my word it looks nice already 😉
We have used this Better Homes & Gardens post as a starting point for our design. Of course, we have adapted it to our needs and size but they deserve a credit for the tutorial!
The materials list there is very helpful. Because we have made a few changes to the design of the arbor, our list is a little bit different.
How to Build a Garden Arbor
List of Materials
Cedar lumber:
- 4 – 12-foot 2x4s: cut off 2 feet of each of them to make 4 pieces of 10ft (3m) [A] and 4 pieces of 2ft (60cm) [B] lumber
- 4 – 8-foot (2.4m) 1x4s [C]
- 6 – 8-foot (2.4m) 2x2s: cut into 7 pieces of 3ft (90cm) [D], 2 pieces of 2.5ft [E], and 10 pieces of 2ft (60cm) [F]
Hardware:
- ~30 3-inch deck screws
- ~30 2-inch deck screws
- ~ fifty 6d galvanized nails
- 4 concrete mix bags
- mixed size rocks (we have lots of them in our garden)
Instructions
Dig 4 holes 20-30 inches deep at the 6ft (1.8m) width and 2ft (60cm) depth.
One by one set the 2x4s posts [A] in each of them and add the concrete mix to each hole adding rocks.
Make sure to check with a leveller to keep them vertical! This is very important!
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My hubby temporarily added 2 2x2s and 2 2x4s pieces between them to stabilize the posts.
Add 1x4s [C] at the desired height using a leveler.
We found clamps very helpful to keep the 1x4s in place during the assembly. These are very similar to the ones we use.
Cut pieces [B] at 45 degrees on both sides and add them to the posts as shown below. This will help to reinforce the structure.
Add pieces [E] between the 1x4s. They will be used to attach 2×2 pieces [D].
Add 2×2 pieces [F] between the 2x4s building a “ladder” for the plants to climb on.
Ignore the mess around it 🙂 We will be adding a raised bed there this weekend. The New Dawn climbing rose will be going in on one side and the white and red clematises on the other 🙂
And,
DONE!
Added May 12, 2021:
A couple of the close-up photos taken a few years after
We had a few people commenting and asking for some close-up images of the top part connections. So, here you are. As you can see, the lumber has aged a bit but still looks good.
The rose has grown and is reaching the top of the arbor. Once it starts blooming, we will be adding more pictures.
We also planted another rose on the other side of it, as the clematis we planted there doesn’t seem to grow enough to reach the top. We chose climbing Eden for that side. I can’t wait to see it bloom!
***
You can paint or stain it if you wish but I like it just like that! Cedar is a great material to use for outdoor projects and will last for many years without the paint. We may change our mind and stain it sometime this summer if we have time though 😉
I am so happy with the result and so proud of my Man! I honestly did not think we would be able to finish it in a day!
What do you think? Do you agree it was the right choice to do this DIY? As always, we will be happy to see your comments below 🙂
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Is there a reason for uneven spacing of the the top rungs? Thanks in advance
I don’t think so. I can’t remember now why we did so 🙂 You can place them as you want.
Nice design by the way 👍🏻
Thank you! 🙂
We need to take more pics to update the post with what it looks like a few years after it’s been built.
How far do your top horizontal pieces (what you have labeled as “C”) protrude from the vertical posts? It looks like 18” to 2’ in the picture, but I did not see it mentioned anywhere. Thank you for sharing your project!
Hey Nicole! Thank you for checking out our post 🙂 It is 6 ft from the edge of part A to the edge on the other side (the width). So, it will be a 1 ft protrusion on each side. Let me know if that helps 🙂
What did you use to attach the top 1x1s into the sides of the 1x4s? We are worried we will blow out the 1x4s since the sides are so narrow.
Hey Nicole! I asked my husband to take a few close-up pictures to show the connections and hope to be able to add them to my post either tonight or tomorrow. We have had a bunch of storms in our area since we built the arbor and we had no issues at all. However, if you feel you need to enforce it more, you could either use 2×4’s (for the top horizontal part) and 4×4’s lumber (for the posts) to make it sturdier. Alternatively, you could use metal corner braces to enforce it even more. Something like this maybe, that you can find at Homedepot? (affiliate link)
Hey Nicole! I just added a few pics to the post. Let me know if that helps 🙂
This is beautiful. I am planning on adding an arbor to my garden entrance this summer. My boyfriend is a carpenter so this should be quite simple. I try to garden & gather materials on a budget. I was curious as to how much this project costed for you to make? Thanks for sharing!! The directions are nice & clear.
Aw, thank you, Amanda! It will be an easy project for your boyfriend! I believe the total cost of this project was way less than $100, lumber and concrete mix included.
I am planning to build this. I hope to be able to do this by myself – I think digging the holes will be the most difficult part. As for cutting the lumber Lowe’s or Home Depot does them for free. Wish me luck 😊 as I plan to do this over the long weekend!!!
Depending on your soil type, yes, digging the holes might be the most difficult part. But I’m sure you can do that 😉 And yes, you are right, both Lowe’s and Home Depot will cut lumber for you! If you are sharing your project on Instagram or FB, we would love to check it out. Please tag us @simplefamilycrazylife if you don’t mind 😊 Wishing you best of luck!
Your measurements are wrong on the 2×2. Needed 6 eight footers not 5. 5 = 40 ft. 10*2= 20, 7*3= 21 and 2*2.5= 5. 47 ft. I should have checked the measurements.
Thank you Mike for pointing it out! It must have been a typo on my end as we did have all parts. Yes, it comes to 46 ft’ in total when you some them up. I’m sorry if it caused a trouble for you and have now updated the post.
Why do you add rocks to the concrete? (I genuinely don’t know)
Sorry, second question- I see 2 of the 1 x 4’s across the top, where are the other 2 used?
No worries 😉
You can see the difference between the pictures 5 and 6 that there was the first set of 1×4’s installed on the inner side of the arbour, and the second set got added to the outer side of the arbour at the top. It is like the vertical posts are being held between the 1×4 pieces. Hope that helps 🙂
Hello Jen! Thank you for your questions!
The rocks are added to create more weight to the concrete mix to make it stronger. We do get strong seasonal winds here in our area with sometimes huge trees falling. So far, the arbour has stand them all great!
Also, rocks and concrete make it a good binding combo. Since concrete or cement might crack as it gets older, the stones will help to hold the structure.
Thank you so much for taking the time…Im starting this today
Yaaay! That sounds exciting! What are you planning on growing on it? Our climbing rose and clematises are growing bigger and I can’t wait to see it all covered in blooms one day 🙂
Nat! I am about to start this as well. Thank you somuch for sharing! do you have any updated photos?!
That’s funny that you are asking it, Misty, as we were going to shoot some photos as soon, as our climbing rose is in bloom 🙂 I hope to be able to update the post either this or next weekend.
Hope you have fun with the project! Feel free to ask questions if you need any clarifications 🙂