Open Door Policy...

The front entry without gate

In 1999, we built a garden wall around the perimeter of the property.  Our home is on a large corner lot, so it was a big project.  The Evergreen side walls were designed to come to the height allowed for a street corner facing wall.  The gate opening on the Evergreen side had to be at the same height (or at least no higher in order to meet the city regulation), so we were decided to put an arch on the gate.  On the Fenelon side there was no such restriction, so we decided to build an arched wall entry.

Neighbor's gate = INSPIRATION

The entry remained "gate-less" for a while, as we couldn't decide exactly what we wanted to do.  I had seen a lovely arched gate set into a plastered arch at another home in the neighborhood, and decided to try the same thing for our home.  

TOP: Front view.
BOTTOM: Interior view.

We constructed the gate, stained it to match the cobblestone-style pavers that lined the patio and the front yard walkway, and realized that it wouldn't work. 

The hardware we had installed into the arch at the time the wall was built was set back too far to allow the tightly fitted gate to swing properly. Luckily, we found an elegant solution.  By scalloping the top edge of the gate, we were able to maintain the arched shape, but achieve the clearance from the inside edge of the arch to the gate top that was necessary for the gate to open and close freely.  

We were so excited when the gates were completely installed.  Our "secret garden" vision was becoming a reality!