A DIY Fence and Drought Tolerant Landscaping

 Happy Monday everyone!

So....I've been putting off writing this post for a while.  Partially because writing about a fence isn't super exciting, and partially because we did this project a little while ago and now the details are getting a bit foggy.  I even thought about not including it, fearing everyone would also be bored to death with such a post....Ultimately though, I decided to post it, in hope that it will help some one else who is tasked with building a fence.

I don't have a complete how-to for you today, but I think I have enough details for you to get an idea of how it's constructed.  


I told you guys a couple of months ago that we planed to redo our front yard, in order to make it more drought friendly.  It was a big project to take on, and we did it all ourselves!

And I guess that means I need to post the obligate before/after pic...but truthfully I hesitate to because the new plants are still so small!  I can't wait for them to grow a bit...but for now, here's the before and after...

 We mostly followed the plan that I detailed before, with a few adjustments.  We decided to add a rock/succulent garden to the right side of the picture above.  Of course the plants are so small now that you can't really get the full effect, but I hope they will be so worth it in the end. I love succulents!

For today though, let's just talk about our fence. We designed it and built it.


There are 4x4 posts, 4x4 caps, a 2x6 "top" board, horizontal 2x4's ,and lots of 2 x 2's for each of the vertical slats.

Altogether each fence "side is a little under 20 feet.  We made the whole fence for a little over $300....plus a lot of sweat equity.There's satisfaction though with having it finished now! It's the first time we ever made a fence!

The tops of the posts are just pre-made 4x4 caps, which I glued on with an adhesive.

 I'm excited with how it turned out!  I can't wait for my plants to get a bit bigger!

 For those of you that might like to make your own fence, I've provided some additional details below.

Our first step was to prime and paint all of the wood.  Then we dug a hole for the post, and used fence post concrete to put the whole (VERY TALL!) 4x4 into the ground.  We used a few other pieces of wood to brace the post.  We used a level to make sure that both sides of the post were level.

We made sure that all of the posts were aligned correctly. 

We used a string to make sure that the poles lined up correctly.

I felt so ridiculous having such tall posts in our yard!  We let them solidify overnight.

My husband found online that you can make a guide to cut the post to the correct height using a circular saw.  He made a guide to go all around the post, and then clamped it on.  We measured where we wanted to cut. 

Once the posts were cut, I used a construction adhesive to attach the cap. 

We attached the horizontal boards to the posts, using a kreg jig to attach the boards to the posts. the 2x6 we placed on top. , and used a kreg jig to attach it to the post at each end too. 

Then we measured the distance between the two poles, marked the center, and worked out the spacing of the vertical 2x2's.  It was really helpful to cut a guide piece to make sure that the 2x2's are spaced correctly.  We made a piece the right length and then moved it from section to section.

So, not complete instructions, but I hope that this little look into how the fence came together helps someone! 

Hope you all are having a great week!

XOXO,

Jill