Weathering Wood

 My newly built yardstick gate is looking fabulous and all but it sticks out like a sore thumb against my aged arbor. Questioning if a store-bought stain will give the look it truly needs, I decided instead to weather it.
Looking to see what I had around the house, I found some old rusted metal, white distilled vinegar, and day old coffee still left in the pot. I combined all three and let my concoction set for a day or so before applying the murky brew to my gate.                                                                                                                                     

I missed a few spots on the first coat

Two coats and 15 minutes is what it took for my gate to age... saved me the 2+ years of wait for this to happen naturally.

Before

After

Yardstick Garden Gate

Now that Rick and I are planning on getting chickens here in the next couple months, I need to start proofing the yard. My easy fix of a garden gate that worked well for our dog Suki just isn't going to cut it with chooks.

The previous Suki proof bamboo stick garden barrier

I needed an actual gate. Not wanting to spend a lot or take that much time with building one, I decided that a yardstick would actually be a perfect height for a picket gate (and they are pre-cut :).

      

We set off to Home Depot in search of yardsticks and gate hardware and forked out about $15. Using some left over wood we had and a little over an hour of construction, we now have ourselves a new chicken and Suki proof gate. 

It literally rules (pun intended)!