Pergola/Arbor/Seat

by Stephen Taylor

4 Materials

My wife is recovering from surgery and wanted a nice seat to gaze out over the harbour
The Lady of the House said that she would like a seat in the orchard to contemplate her navel! And being a good husband, with an unhealthy passion for powertools, I thought " I can do better than that"

pergola arbor seat, gardening, outdoor furniture, outdoor living

I had a bunch of 4x4 (100mm x 100mm) poles that I bought eons ago for another project that never got done,

So using a circular saw I cut a recess at the top of 4 of them.

So I assembled 2 of the poles with some trellis using 50mm screws and dug a couple of holes with my post hole tool, I also added a horizontal upper from 40 x 100 decking to give the whole shebang some rigidity.

I then made sure it was all level and upright and concreted in with Postmix

I then cut a "bird lip" out of the upright for the seat back top runner, I was going to cut a second one lower for the bottom rail, but then thought better as it would weaken the post too much, so as I was very much "winging" this (making it up as I go along), I used the cut out "wedge instead as an infill to get my angle for the seat back.

Once both top and bottom horizontal were in I cut slats to fit for the back and attached with 50mm screws.

I used 2 pieces of trellis for the sides to get the correct position for the front poles assembly. These were attached using 75mm nails.

As I was doing this on my own ( as the wife has just had back surgery) some improvisation was called for. (Brute force and Ignorance always goes a long way in these situations!)

Once I had located one side, I could dig the second hole and square everything up.

Again all concreted in with Postmix

Then I put in 2 "fore and aft" pieces at each end to attach the seat slats using 75mm nails, then cut the seat base slats to length (1800 mm) and attached using 50mm screws.

I cut 13 x 1 metre lengths for the roof, cut off the corners and clamped together.

Then cut 2 slots as shown in each to fit (750mm apart)

I spaced out the roof slats evenly and nailed in position using 75mm nails

Just need to stain it and plant something to grow over it and I'm done

About 6 hours all told between rain storms.

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4 x 100mm x 100mm 2.4 m posts
40 x 100 smooth decking (lots!)
75 mm Galv nails
50mm Galv screws

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5 of 113 comments

Angie on Jul 01, 2018

This turned out very nice. I'm sure your wife is very appreciative. Best wishes as she recovers from surgery. I think some cheery cushions and string lights strung above would be a nice addition.

3 Reply
- See 1 previous
- Stephen Taylor on Jul 01, 2018
  
  Thanks, it is 300m from the house so they would have to be battery lights
  
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- Linnea on Mar 06, 2019
  
  Solar lights could be used.....
  
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Rebecca Roff on Feb 27, 2019

Awesome, Beautiful job. Thank you for sharing this

2 Reply
- Stephen Taylor on Feb 27, 2019
  
  You're welcome
  
  Like