goastros Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I want to form a little courtyard at my front door since the front door faces sideways and is set back pretty deep. I was thinking about mounting 2x4s on the brick of the house and then setting a 4x4 post in the ground forming an L shape with a gate opening towards the front of the house. I would then create a walkway between the house and the driveway for people to get to the front door instead of having to walk up my driveway. I was thinking about boring holes in the 2x4s and the 4x4 and mounting metal conduit between them horizontally and cutting down a 4x4 into square pieces and boring a hole thru them and lacing them onto the conduit randomly and loosely--so I could move them around in a pattern--sort of like an abacus except with square blocks instead of round beads. I would then paint the 4x4 squares in various colors from a 50s color palette. Does that make sense? Does that sound like it would fit a modern theme? I love the metal fretwork and the decorative concrete screens but I can't locate any locally and this would pretty much be a diyable job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NenaE Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Ebay has some great authentic 1950's-1960's mod design ideas in their "Sunset" books and/or magazines. Many show landscape designs from that time period, might help you out. I know that I've seen fence designs in them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cw4044 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I love the idea of the 50s abacus! I guess it won't really be for privacy, but it sounds like a neat fence! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecondTour Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Man, you're certainly in a 50s-style vein with that idea. It's borderline Googie. Keep us posted on the finished product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goastros Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 Thanks guys. It's definitely not for privacy (I don't want any freaks hiding on my porch when I get home). It's more to define where the front door is since you can't see it from the front of the house. I want it as open as possible so I can still see out my kitchen window that is located next to the front door. It'll be closed in enough to let my toddler out in the courtyard to play in the future fountain that we'll put in the dirt bed that's there now. I've scoured the internet for different ideas and found plenty of stuff that I like--but the materials are either not available now or it's too enclosed for what I want to use it for. This is the most cost effective idea I've come up with and the only one we can do ourselves. I'll post pics when we get done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stolitx Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 I love the idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipper Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 How about cutting some pieces of the 4x4 into rectangles that will span over multiple bars. Some over two, some over three and some over all four. I am for hire for design work flipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goastros Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Thanks Flipper. That looks way more complicated although it does look better. We would actually have to work harder to line up the holes before boring them and I would need to check on the size conduit we're going to use to see if it can support a 4x4 beam that will span 3 rows. My hubby doesn't want to hire you. He said he has enough with one person driving him crazy with having everything custom built--no off the shelf square box crap for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipper Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 You could always use 1/2" galvanized water pipe to give you more strength. You cold even use galvanized connectors to hold the pipe to the 4x4's on the ends. Kinda like Chipotle uses all over their stores. Please don't "not" do it because you are afraid to measure where the holes will go flipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goastros Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Thanks for the ideas! Using the galvanized connectors would be much easier than boring holes into the posts and would be more forgiving to help line up the holes in the rectangle pieces. We'll have to make a trip to Home Depot this weekend to check out materials. I've never been to Chipotle--we'll have to make a trip over to check out their architecture. We're not afraid of measuring where the holes go--we've done a whole house renovation and hubby makes furniture so we're good to go--it will just take more time and patience. We've got a toddler now so we're always running short on both of those commodities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipper Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Thanks for the ideas! Using the galvanized connectors would be much easier than boring holes into the posts and would be more forgiving to help line up the holes in the rectangle pieces. We'll have to make a trip to Home Depot this weekend to check out materials. I've never been to Chipotle--we'll have to make a trip over to check out their architecture. We're not afraid of measuring where the holes go--we've done a whole house renovation and hubby makes furniture so we're good to go--it will just take more time and patience. We've got a toddler now so we're always running short on both of those commodities.One more suggestion and then I'll shutty. If you are going to do the threaded galvanized pipe route, pick your space between posts based on what length of "pre threaded" pipe you are going to buy. That way you don't have to worry about threading the ends of a pipe that you cut to fit the length between posts.flipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goastros Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 I was talking to hubby about that and he said the guys at HD would be very unhappy about us wanting to get a bunch of pipes rethreaded. We have no control over the length of pipe--the area we want to do has boundaries set already with the driveway and sidewalk. He wants to go ahead and use the water pipe--but use the bored holes instead. I did find a place that sells the fittings without using threads if anyone else wants to try this.https://www.globalindustrial.com/gcs/group/...erPicGroups.web Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbarz Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 I was talking to hubby about that and he said the guys at HD would be very unhappy about us wanting to get a bunch of pipes rethreaded. We have no control over the length of pipe--the area we want to do has boundaries set already with the driveway and sidewalk. He wants to go ahead and use the water pipe--but use the bored holes instead. I did find a place that sells the fittings without using threads if anyone else wants to try this.https://www.globalindustrial.com/gcs/group/...erPicGroups.webThreading pipe is really easy, and certain Home Depot/Lowes have the machine permanently setup... I just wish I could remember which ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecondTour Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 I was talking to hubby about that and he said the guys at HD would be very unhappy about us wanting to get a bunch of pipes rethreaded.I made a structure to reinforce the inside of a piece of furniture so it would support a 110 gallon aquarium. It needed to be invisible from the outside of the furniture piece and it needed to support a great deal of weight. I used 2" galvanized pipe from Home Depot. I needed several cuts and 8 re-threads.They were very helpful, even letting me take the first piece home to double-check fit before making the rest of the cuts and threading. The guy also pointed out an area where I made a mistake on my measuring when I showed him the drawing I made. It was the pre-threaded measurement Flipper is warning you about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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