Which gates to have?

[Penners]

So, how do you like my iron gates with a curve in them then?

I like them very much, Feltwell, although I reckon you must have been on your fifth glass of burgundy when you designed the curve. And given that they're iron, they must weigh a ton! :wink:

I like your gates very much - and I don't think the gap underneath looks inappropriate. They're a bit "sudden" at the moment, but if the colour is going to tone down a bit I think they'll look very nice. Personally, I would paint the bolt-heads the same colour as the gates - I'm not a fan of "picked out" ironwork.

Here's a controversial, highly subjective (and probably unpopular!) idea: although the gates look nice, for me they would look even nicer if they were painted the same lovely muted green as your external woodwork. I'll do a Photoshop job and post back.

Feel free to stick pins in a wax Penners.

 

[Feltwell]

Feel free to stick pins in a wax Penners.

:lol: No, not at all.

When we moved in, we had to do major work to the roof urgently. As part of that, we decided to do all the roofline woodwork (a mixture of renovating what was there and replacing what was too far gone) in linseed paint - and we opted for a pale yellow buttermilk colour as being something that is unlikely to date badly and that we'll keep with long term, given the nature of linseed paint.

The green is actually the choice of the previous owners and is in a bit of a state - it badly needs redecorating but I've only been doing bits as I've had the time / money / inclination to renovate the windows properly.

Act in haste and repent at leisure - how often do we tell new posters to live with a house for a while before making changes. We didn't like the green when we moved in, but it's grown on me and now I much prefer it to the buttermilk colour . I'm not sure I can face trying to repaint all the roof line woodwork though, it's very high up, hard to get at and has guttering in the way of much of it!

 

[Penners]

Well, I'm not proud of this "quick and dirty" job, but it will give you a vague idea of what I'm suggesting. I just feel that, painted this colour, the gates wouldn't leap out at you so much.

But - as they say - in matters of taste there can be no argument!

 

[Feltwell]

The problem is, I agree with you! Holkham's "Spruce Green" is the one that I (now!) quite like.

http://www.holkhamlinseedpaints.co.uk/products/linseed-oil-paint.html

The gates in their current colour will tone down quite a lot though - plus they appear brighter in the picture than they do "in the flesh" already, in my opinion.

When 7 years is up and the paint is due for a coat of oil, it may get a coat of green instead. At least it's an easy colour to paint over, I would hope that 2 coats would do it.

 

[vicky whitworth]

I love them. They look vert smart, and I quite like the paler colour too.
Do they spell out the number of the house in roman numerals?

 

[Feltwell]

No, nothing so fancy Vicky! It's just a design. The house would be LXI in Roman numerals.

By the way, "vert" smart? A typo I suspect as T is next to Y on the keyboard, but rather an appropriate one given Penner's photoshop editing.......

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Very handsome gates indeed, FW. I also vote for vert.

 

[worms]

Personally, I would paint the bolt-heads the same colour as the gates...

Or add a few more to complete the lines!

You don't expect agreement on a de gustibus issue on PPUK Forum do you?

 

[Feltwell]

You don't expect agreement on a de gustibus issue on PPUK Forum do you?

I'd be disappointed if there was!

 

[Lime]

The gates will make or mar the house.
If there is no local guidance I'd fit the best I could afford to my taste and in keeping with the house.

I have an old picture of my street, taken long before WW2 and maybe before WW1.
The houses have railings of an Edwardian style that I would tolerate but not like ...if they were still there.
Not everything old was good to look at but the railings would have been an improvement on what adorns most of the properties today.

I'd have wrought iron for preference and a straight top.

Something like this perhaps:
http://www.premiergatesltd.co.uk/images/gates.jpg

 

[Penners]

By the way, "vert" smart? A typo I suspect as T is next to Y on the keyboard, but rather an appropriate one given Penner's photoshop editing.......

Oh, a tres bonne multilingual blague there, Feltwell!

 

[skier-hughes]

I wouldn't normally post an update on something as minor as this

How on earth could you call finishing a project minor???? :?: :roll:

I'd vote for finishing off the row as well, but maybe a bit more photoshopping first to see if it would look right, or as is usual, live with it for the first 7 years to see if you like it!!

 

[Penners]

How on earth could you call finishing a project minor???? :?: :roll:

Good point, Graham!

A finished project!! That's a rare and wonderful thing.

 

[Feltwell]

How on earth could you call finishing a project minor???? :?: :roll:

Well..... it's more a component of a larger project you see. Replacing the grotty garages meant trashing the old tarmac driveway, which wasn't good to begin with - levels were all wrong. But there's no point in replacing the driveway without rebuilding that badly leaning garden wall first, as when I come to do that the driveway will get dug up again. And the leaning wall joins onto the gate pier, which is also leaning and has a stone block in it that is disintegrating. And whilst I'm there, the driveway really needs a proper retaining wall on the neighbour's side, it's 3' higher than their land it was held back with big lumps of rock, tree roots and old concrete before.

Whilst I'm rebuilding that pier it seems daft not to rebuild the other pier, moving it across 18" in the process - making the periously narrow driveway entrance a bit wider. After all, if I don't do it now I'll have to patch the new driveway when I do get around to it, which always looks bad. Moving the pier across means new gates, ohh and widening the drop kerb and retarmacing the pavement outside.

The garage was "finished" about 18 months ago, but still needs an electricity supply putting in (currently has an extension lead going in under a door), fascia and barge boards completing, rainwater goods fitting, get building regs signed off, then put a sink in and a staircase to the first floor (which building regs would never sign off), doors to the underfloor storage fitting, and it would be good to insulate the roof and paint the inside, although I'll probably never get around to that.

I forgot that the garage construction also trashed the (already poor) patio in the process, and a new fence and garden gate need to go in. I may as well build a store for the wheelie bins and recycling tubs whilst I'm at it.

So "finishing a project" would be stretching it a bit - more finishing a sub-project I reckon. Honestly, some people think we never get anything finished, can't imagine why.....

 

[JoceAndChris]

The way to be finished is to have no ambition for improvement. But how dull would that be!

Love the gates Feltwell, very elegant and of our time. Eventually I think you should go for harmony of woodwork colour across the property's exterior, and I also think the green against the red brick is extremely good and rather distinguished looking. But if it was all cream it would also look more unified and smarter than it does currently.

Great work though, on everything you do.

 

[Feltwell]

Eventually I think you should go for harmony of woodwork colour across the property's exterior, and I also think the green against the red brick is extremely good and rather distinguished looking. But if it was all cream it would also look more unified and smarter than it does currently.

Agreed, the "harlequin" two-tone look is completely to do with my total inability to do a quick makeover on anything, and the decision to stop other work and replace the old garages before they fell down of their own accord! I'd rather wait and restore each window properly in turn, and live with a multi-coloured house, than do a quick all-over decorate and then go back and restore the windows over time. I'm not saying it's the right approach, it's got more to do with my OCD perfectionism than anything else!

Mrs F is very tolerant, it's been a two-tone house for 4 years now.......

 

[Flyfisher]

I concur with the choice of gates. I think they're better than iron ones. However, I tend to side with Penners about the colour and I think I'd have gone with the sagey green to match the house windows. But I like the cream barge boards and other detailing and am not sure about using a single colour for everything. But then I'm easily confused about decorative matters.

I also like the gateposts and recall the trouble you went to to source a new piece of stone for one of them (or was it both?). That sort of attention to detail may not stick out itself but, when combined with all the other details, really adds up to a well-loved look to the entire house.

You may not have a finished project yet, but it certainly looks like a well-finished job along the way!

 

[Penners]

Q: How do you eat an elephant?

A: A spoonful at a time.

This may not be the complete elephant, but at least you've finished the spoonful! It's a little victory, and should be celebrated by your buying us all a drink.

Mine's a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, please.

 

[LadyArowana]

Very well done Feltwell, I'm much too far away to join in the celebratory drink that Mr P has proposed, so I think that you should buy Mrs F something instead. A Tiffany Atlas ring would seem most appropriate ......

 

[Penners]

Oh, I see! You're too far away to be bought a drink, so the drinks money has be spent on other things, eh? :evil: