Now that the front garden is finally starting to become more established I’m working on adding layers of dimension through architectural elements. It’s taken years to fill in all the blank space along the walkway to the front porch. It still needs some rearranging of plants to ensure that there is color throughout spring through early fall but that will take some time to do and it also needs to have non-plant details added in. We took a trip out west to Front Royal Virginia to go to an architectural salvage shop. Unfortunately, while there were some interesting items in the shop the prices were just far too high for the items that we liked. While I’ll gladly spend money on an item that I love, and they had a lot of items to choose from, I have seen very similar items for better prices. Perhaps if there had been something I was over the moon about I would have been able to rationalize the cost but that wasn’t the case. Fortunately, one of the down town shops had a bit more to offer. At Past Times Décor Antiques and Collectibles, we found two amazing metal trellis pieces that are just the perfect fit.
The wall trellis I plan to hang it on the wall and then train clematis to grow up and the other at this moment I’m going to leave as it is since it adds a lot of visual interest all on its own. The wall trellis was quite rusted and needed some TLC though. It was rusted and while I’m not going for perfection I’d like it to also withstand the elements. The rust weakens the metal and I was worried that it would not last as long. To prep it to paint it needed to be sanded and then we pressure washed it to get as much of the old paint and rust off as possible. Afterwards I painted it the same black as the shutters on the house with Benjamin Moore Regal Satin Black outdoor paint. In my opinion Benjamin Moore paint is the best and most reliable paint and the Regal paint comes with a lifetime warranty.
The final product looks perfect against the front of the house and I cannot wait to watch it transform and grow with the rest of the garden.
