Linda Johnson

Landscaping-Another Great Way to Add an Amazing View from Your Kitchen Window



Posted: Monday, April 27, 2009

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Showcase to Ideas

We have already covered how to create a magnificent floral view from your kitchen garden window with a planter box, trellis, and vines.  Here is another very attractive and even simpler way of creating a visually enticing view from inside.  

We have all seen or even have in our patios a decorative and very functional pergola patio cover.  Decorative for the numerous designs we can consider, and functional from the much needed shade they provide.  As we will also sometimes see, miniature sized pergolas are often constructed and mounted directly over one or several windows of a home or garage. 


With that in mind, why not mount a mini-pergola over your kitchen garden window to display hanging baskets on both sides?  With slim top slats spaced enough to provide sunlight, you can still receive filtered light through the top slanted portion of the window.  Note, you never want to mount hanging baskets over the top of the window for one reason.  Every time you water, the dirty runoff will cascade down over your window, keeping it from every truly being clean. 



The design is simple since the weight of the hanging baskets it will bear is minimal, and you will not be placing anything on the top of the pergola itself.  Traditional patio pergolas are supported with 4in. X 4in. or larger posts.  Our mini-pergola will not require this, and proportional to its smaller size, will use individually smaller wood framing members than our standard patio pergola.  

Here are the supplies you will need:




Step 1:  Measure the width of your garden window.  Then, measure the diameter of your round hanging basket, or the square length of your square basket, whichever you decide to use.  The goal here is to leave enough clearance for basket sway in the event of stronger than normal wind conditions.  Your best bet is to take the measurements of your hanging basket and add about 8 inches of clearance from the rim of the basket to the edge of the garden window to allow for wind swing.  Mark a spot directly above the center point of the basket on the house surface where you will mount the brackets.  It should be at a height that allows for clearance of the mini pergola above the top frame of the window.   Because the mini pergola needs to be level with the top of the window, make sure your points for mounting the brackets assure that.  One suggestion is to have someone help you hold a 2in x 4in. or other long straight piece of wood connecting the points on each side.  Use a level to make sure everything is indeed level before going ahead with the next step.



Step 2:  Installing your pergola.  Whichever size wood members you decide to use, you will need to pre drill two of them at the point where they will be secured to the top of the plant hanging brackets.  They can extend beyond the width of the two brackets, but make sure they are centered before marking your place for drilling in to the wood.  Prior to installing your wood framing for the pergola, it might be a good idea to seal, paint, or stain the wood to protect it from the elements.  You can attach your two wood slats to the top of the brackets using the appropriate sized machine screws with washers and nuts. 



Step 3:  Now, once you have installed the first two wood slats, you will want to secure two to three shorter crossing slats that will hold the entire framework together to the underside of your first two longer slats that run along the top.  Position them evenly where you think they should be attached, and mark your spot on the longer wood slats where you will need to drill to attach them together.  Once marked, drill your holes, use a pencil to mark where to drill on the crossing slats by holding them underneath the already drilled longer slats, and attach all together with the appropriate sized machine screws.   You can now easily attach any remaining longer slats to fill in the gaps between the first two longer slats that were already installed.  Just position them in place, mark the spot on the top of the crossing slats where to drill, and once both connecting pieces are drilled, attach them with machine screws and washers and nuts.  As an alternative, you can also attach all of the wood members with the appropriate sized wood screws.  Your work is done.  Find some nice plants and enjoy your new mini pergola! 

 

Linda Johnson is an experienced crafter and interior/exterior decorating specialist, sharing her passion by helping friends, family, and clients solve their decorating and craft needs, and is currently the publisher of http://www.showcasetoideas.com, where everyone is invited to show off their own wonderful creations, and find a wealth of craft ideas and decorating projects.  Linda's education and practical decorating experience laid the framework for putting together an evergrowing library of how-to articles, video tutorials, and supply resources, while enabling viewers to share her passion by showing off their projects as well at http://www.showcasetoideas.com.  

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