The last few weekends we’ve been doing landscaping.  Personally, I’ve never been a fan of landscaping because of the clay we have here in Missouri.  It’s such a pain to dig in!  However, we had a few plants in the front yard that had taken over the area and dh kindly uprooted them and moved them to the back.  Since he asked where they should go it forced me to make a global landscaping plan and on this plan I found the need for a trellis.  

Over the years I have been intriqued by climbing vines and have looked at iron trellises.  Man can they be expensive!  I also found a lot of them are way too short.  It bothers me to see a beautiful flowering vine hanging off the top of a short trellis.  All the work that little vine went thru getting itself to grow up there and then it had no where else to go.  Poor thing!  Another thing I don’t like about the mass market trellises is they look like everyone elses and this is something I try my best to avoid if at all possible.  I knew this meant I was going to have to build something.  I needed to take into consideration the type of material I felt I could work with and come up with a design.  To help give some inspiration I went to my archive of design ideas and found this photo: 

I was immediately drawn to the fact that it was attached to the wall and not stuck in the ground.  This meant I could make it to fill the space.  This would add architectural interest and best of all it was unique.  But since I haven’t taken a welding class yet (and yes I really do want to take one!) I knew I wasn’t going to be building one.  I had more research to do.  Next I did a quick Google search on DIY Trellis designs and I found these lovely designs from Black & Decker website of all places (along with building instructions):    

Here I was immediately drawn to the combination of wire and wood.  I had originally wanted to use wire horizontelly on our deck as the railing but code wouldn’t allow us to do it.  So here could be my chance to use it and these were materials I most certainly could work with.  I also liked the geometric pattern(s) that could be created and the ivy trailing along the wires to emphasize the shape.  This added even more depth and interest to the piece.  What if I made something like this but attached it to the wall?  I knew I had it.  I quickly measured the space, grabbed some graph paper and began working out the design.   

After many trips to the hardware store (trying to figure out the brackets for hanging it) and a little bit of time building it, it was complete.  Check out the finished product:

Although the photo makes the paint job a little less than to be desired, the real deal looks much better.  I’m really pleased with how it turned out!  For the space it was designed for the large diamonds will be a perfect balance with the green ivy and the brick wall.  I”m considering building several more with more complex geometric shapes for the back of the house.  I’m even considering mounting them horizontal and stacking them above each other where a beautiful flowering vine would look perfect.    

Instructions for how I built the one shown here is below.  The finished size was approximately 7′x2′ (measurements for the inside rectangle).  If you decide to build one, send me pictures of the finished product.  I’d love to see it!

Note:  The picture above does not show it mounted to the wall yet.  Once we complete this last step I will post an updated photo. 

INGREDIENTS

• (3) 8′ 2×4′s
• Kreg Jig with included drillbits
• Kreg Jig clamp
• (8) Kreg Jig screws – #8 Coarse
• Miter Saw
• Sand-block
• Spray Primer
• Black Spray Paint – semi-gloss
• (12) Hooks
• Drillbit, sized to the hooks
• 3/32 plastic cover wire (50′ length)
• plastic cover wire end piece thingy (officially called a Ferrule)
• String of any type (nothing good!)
• Saw Horses (or what ever you have)
• (8) L brackets [sized to give you the clearance you want]
• (16) bolts & nuts
• Drillbit (specialized for brick)
• (16) wood screws
• (16) brick screws

Optional

• Screw driver (any type)
• Spray Gun nozzle
• Black, permanent marker

DIRECTIONS

1. Use graph paper to plot out the design of the wire pattern.  I made each square  on the graph paper equal to one foot.  You need to determine the location of the hooks and how the wire will feed through.  Surprisingly it’s not that easy to have the design turn out even and flowing.   Just keep playing around with the number of hooks and the spacing between them until you get the design you like.  Keep in mind how many times you will have to start and stop the wire.  I only wanted one, two at the most, starting points.  My final design only had one.   
    
2. It’s 2×4 time.  Now, here is where my fellow neighborly men (and my dh) tell me I should be using pressure treated 2×4′s instead of the plain old 2×4′s I found at Lowe’s.  Or used Cedar to match the deck.  But, I didn’t.  My 2×4′s cost me $1.78 each.  I may regret it later but I’m hoping to compensate for this maybe oversight during the priming and painting phase of this project.  Cut (2) 74″ pieces and (2) 2′ long pieces.  Since I’m doing a miter cut I used a 45° angle cut on each end.  (Note:  These are the internal rectangle measurements, not the outside.  So, make sure you are measuring what will be the inside of the board).  
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3. Time to attach the pieces.  I use a Kreg Jig for joining all my wood pieces.  This was a lovely Christmas gift from my husband (and yes it was on my Christmas list).  I simply pop the wood into the jig, clamped it down and drill the holes (two in each end of the smaller pieces of wood).  

        

4. Then lay the wood out on the table with the holes you just drilled facing up.  Using your drill (and special Kreg Jig screws) screw the pieces of wood together.  You can use the clamp to help hold the pieces of wood together.  A DH set of hands or kiddo sets of hands work well to help make sure everything is lined up works good here too.  Now you have your rectangle built.  Congrats!
   
5. Time to mark the location of where the hooks go refering to your graph paper plan.  I used a black permanent marker to mark my holes so I could easily see them.  [We have approximately one-million of them lying around the house so it was in arms reach].  On the short pieces of wood mark the center of the wood.  This would be 1′ from each side.  On the long pieces, the first mark is 7″ from the end.  The remaining marks are all 1′ apart.  Once the last mark is made, the measurement from this mark to the end of the board should be 7″.   
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6. Drill pilot holds in each of the marks.  Drill a good distance in to make it easier for inserting the hooks. 
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7. Now insert the hooks.  
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   TIP:  Grab yourself the optional screwdriver.  After the hook has been started, insert the screwdriver into the hook and start rotating.  It’s a fast way to screw in the hooks without hurting your fingers.  If you need to take the hooks out, simply insert the screwdriver again but rotate in the opposite direction.  You will love me for this I promise!  .
8. You’ve now got your structure built so let’s see how the design looks with the wire in there.  But, just in case the design is off we are not going to use the real wire (I wonder why I recommend this step?).  Grab the practice string and follow your plan on how to insert the string.  I started mine at the bottom, center hook.  Once you get it fed all the way thru go ahead and tie a knot in there.  This is when you will want to stand your trellis up and step back from it admiring your handy work (or be horrified that your geometric pattern is all out of wack).  If your pattern is the way you like it, move onto step 9.  If not, go back to step 1 and re-calculate.
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9. Time to prime and paint.  But first, remove the practice string and all the hooks.  (Remember that hook tip above?).  Once everthing is removed, lightly sand the frame and set-up the trellis outside to paint.  Originally I was going to stain my trellis to perfectly match our deck but I couldn’t buy the stain in quart size containers.  Buying stain at $30.00 a gallon defeats the purpose of building this DIY.  So, forgetting how much I HATE spray painting I went ahead and picked up some spray primer and spray paint.  (The primer is to compensate for the non-pressure treated lumber I purchased for step 1 above.  I’ll let you know in five years how it worked out).  Begin spraying.  Go and get your DH and kiddos to help with this process when your finger starts hurting (because it will!).  Put on as many coats as necessary and let dry.  
   
   TIP:  After painting most of the trellis with both primer and the paint I found a handy Spray Gun Trigger system for around $2.00 at the hardware store.  I recommend picking up one of these babies if you are going to spray paint.  Unfortunately it broke as we finished up our painting but the benefit we received from it for the amount of time we used it was enough for me to recommend you picking one of these up.
   
     
10. Time to reinsert the hooks.  (Remember that hook tip above?). 
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11. Bring on the real string – the plastic covered wire and insert it in the trellis.  
12. Connecting the wire.  Since with my design I was able to begin and end at the same hook this allowed me to use only one double ended connector piece called a ferrule.  Insert the wire into both sides of the ferrule and hammer it flat to lock it in place.  DH set of hands at this point helps keep the string in place.  Just don’t hit his hands!  TIP:  The ferrule because of it’s size was not easy to hammer flat.  I ended up having to get a bigger size than the wire because I forgot I needed to compensate for the plastic covering I had chosen over the wire.  This larger ferrule was not easy to smash.  I’ve been told there is a connector piece that allows you to screw the pieces together (with the wire in between).  I recommend you talk to your lovely hardware guy and find out alternatives to the ferrule if you are using the plastic cover wire.   

     

13. I chose to spray paint (using primer first) all of the L brackets to match the frame.  
14. Bolt the L brackets together so they ended up looking like U brackets.  I made numerous trips to the hardware store until I found the size of brackets that produced the clearance from the wall I was looking for.   
15. Attach the brackets and the trellis to the wall.  Since I’m attaching mine to a brick wall I had to get a special drillbit and screws for brick.  Just ask your local hardware guy what you need for your conditions.
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16. Plant your ivy, keeping a watch on it as it trails up and trim it so it stays on the wire only.  Enjoy!
       

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