Trellis At Back Door

Since I haven't been able to tackle any larger home renovation projects due to our daily visits to the hospital, I have decided to attempt to tackle a few smaller projects around the house. My theory is... as long as my health is stable enough to allow me to get some work accomplished, it doesn't matter what I do as long as I simply keep busy and do something.

One such relatively small project was to design and build a timber trellis-type structure at our back door to the house. 

I sketched out a few ideas a few days ago and Sheila liked the idea. We stopped at Lowes after leaving the hospital yesterday to pick up some lumber and galvanized lag bolts. This little project didn't require a whole lot of supplies since most of it is being built using scrap lumber from previous home renovations.

The first thing I started with today was transposing my sketches to full-size cut lines on the lumber. Once I was happy with this transposed design, I got busy with my new jigsaw cutting out these curved timbers. After cutting, I did some sanding with the belt sander followed by some hand sanding. At this point, the timbers were taking shape.

While I was still in our heated back hallway, I put a coat of paint on the curved timbers I had just created (it was far too cold outside to paint outdoors). At this point, I needed to take a break for Sheila's radiation treatment at the hospital. 

When we arrived home, as dusk was transitioning to darkness, I installed the two timbers on top of the large architectural braces I built and installed the other day. This thing is taking shape and looking good!

This trellis structure will be topped with a series of wooden slats which I plan to rip on my table saw tomorrow morning. Once cut, pre-drilled and sanded, I will paint them in the house where it is warm enough for the paint to dry relatively quickly. When they are dry to the touch, I should still have time to install them.

I'm looking forward to getting this little project accomplished. My spinal injuries are taking a beating with this project but it should look really nice when completed!