Old Entry, New Entry: Which do you prefer?

[hendi_alex]

We finally got around to buying a real gate, after about my third try at a home made version. The wife is very happy with the upgrade from my rickety, pretty ugly old gate. What do you think?

Original drive in and walk in gates, adorned with natural vegetation.


New hand made iron gate, with upgraded fence and new plantings.


Left of gate:


Right of gate:

[cynthia_h]

It looks very nice. I'm sure, when it was new, the "old" one was pretty sharp, too!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[watermelonpunch]

I'm terribly fond of things that look old. So while the new gate looks quite nice, I like the old gate too.

I do like those plants with the log.
What is the one in the forefront... the one that's in front the most?

[hendi_alex]

My question was a bit loaded and mostly in jest as the old gate was barely functional any more. It was warped and had a broken hinge. What you can't see is the struggle that it was just to open and close the old gate. The new gate opens and closes with one finger effort. While we are really enjoying our new gate, it was a significant compromise. We really wanted a well made wooden gate, but those cost over $10,000 compared to the $3000 that we paid for the iron gate. I do like the way that the iron gate allows a better view into the yard however, so that is a plus for our choice.

I think that plant is a low form of spreading yew, perhaps Densiformis Yew. A decent sized plant costs about $35 and they are very slow to get established. The shrub supposedly gets a couple feet tall and spreads up to about 5 feet. To me, the texture is much softer and more interesting than that of a similar height spreading spruce type of plant.

[rainbowgardener]

Very nice. I agree with you that it is more welcoming to see in to your yard. The old one closed it off and looked like a barrier not a portal.

[mscratch]

Oh I like that new gate! wow, what a difference. Much more open area and the view is lovely. Great update you made.

[hendi_alex]

Interesting idea of barrier versus portal. In the early 1990's we had no gate and no fence. Over a period of about 2-3 months we were burglarized four times, hit to the tune of $30K+ and more importantly lost lots of sentimental items and lost of our sense of security. After that experience we made lots of adjustments. Fenced the yard, with a gate of course. Got a large breed outside dog. Bought an updated, self dialing security system. Added extra security to windows and doors, etc. IMO quality of life dramatically went down for several years after that. For the first ten years or longer that we lived here, neither we nor many of our neighbors ever bothered locking the doors when leaving the house for a few hours. Nobody ever messed with anyone's property, at least such was quite a rarity.

Just recently, someone came into our yard while we were here asleep, in the morning the gate was ajar, and some of my electric hand tools had been taken from the garage area. After that we now keep a pad lock on the front gate most of time when we are here and always at night or when we are away from home. This is rural South Carolina and we are just not used to that kind of behavior, either from us or from criminals.

So barrier versus portal, I guess we want to strike a balance between inviting visitors in, and also in telling potential intruders to stay out. One thing about burglars, when looking for potential target homes, if there are multiple barriers that increase the risk of getting caught or increase the difficulty of doing the job, they will usually just drive on down the road the next house, to one that is more inviting.

[hendi_alex]

Speaking of entries, or inviting entries, or perhaps areas of interest. We have a large container garden area about 50 feet inside the gate, right at the usual guest parking area. It is only about half grown at this point, and there are another 20-25 pots of various plants yet to place in the open areas, but you may get the idea from this photo. A little later in the summer, the impatiens will cascade over so heavily, that very few pots will show, and it looks like a more permanent planting. As posted in previous posts, this is a very difficult area under the large oak trees, so instead of fighting tree roots, we opted for a leaf covered weed barriers and lots of potted plants. I'll post a follow up photo in about a month, when the vegetation will have more than doubled in volume.

[watermelonpunch]

Oh I understand very well that things do need to be functional!
Just that your old gate was very cool looking!!

We're in the same kind of situation with our porch, which is old wooden & old-fashioned.
I like it even though it's seen better days.
And it maybe getting replaced this fall with a modern concrete porch of some type. And that could take some work not to look barren & boring.

Anyway, if you're going to have a metallic gate at your house, the one pictured that you got is quite nice & elegant.
It's much more inviting and pleasant than the ones that make people's houses look like a protected toxic industrial site with chain link. LOL LOL

But man, it's really disheartening that people in rural areas now have to worry about burglaries.
We live in the city and I'm always concerned about leaving stuff outside that might look "tempting" to youths passing through (we have 2 walking paths adjacent to 2 sides of our yard/house).

But it's true, whatever you do to make it a little less convenient for someone with mischief in mind, the less likely you will be targeted.
That's the real reason for locks. As a deterrent not actual stopping power. Locks can easily be broken... But it's more inconvenient & risky to do so.

[pinksand]

Your new gate is lovely and you've done a beautiful job with the plantings! It's so unfortunate that you've had to deal with burglaries and the feelings that come with having your personal space being so invaded.