Front gate

What can I say... it's summer and the days are packed. I wish there were a few extra hours. Well, there's that and the fact that we're doing some interior painting, FINALLY. Very exciting, really. Little by little we're transforming this house with a Modern Cottage soul into a true Modern Cottage - that means out with the remaining finishes and colors that are dark, dark, dark, and in with the white, white, white. Hoping to have progress photos soon.

And now to a project that is already complete: we knew for a while we'd need a gate at our front walkway - our little guy is FAST. But, we wanted something that wouldn't feel bulky or imposing. And of course, we wanted it built Modern Cottage style. The man for the job was Tim (who also took care of those oversized drain holes at our upper deck). He sweats the details just like we do, and is very patient in working to achieve our always specific vision (yes, we admit we're particular - but at least we know what we want! :)

We used 3" x 3" galvanized mesh and framed it into cedar. We chose galvanized hardware, too. We figured we'd leave the gate open all the time, and just close it when the little guy was playing out front. But seeing it finished, we love it so much it stays closed all the time. It's easy to open from the stairs (we certainly didn't want to shut out our neighbors or the UPS man) and we just use a little clasp from the hardware store to "lock" it when needed since that slows down our guy long enough that we can catch up to him.

It's simple and modern and ties in perfectly with the other galvanized accents (chairs, pots, entry hardware). And little guy can safely enjoy an impromptu run through the sprinklers on a hot, sunny day. (Please don't mind all the clover.. we have not been keeping up on our Hendrikus since time is so scarce, but I still refuse to use any pesticides! We'll hopefully get a handle on it again soon ;)