Spring Break 2018 Part 2

In case you missed it, here is part 1 of my Spring Break adventure.

Part 2...

So according to almost any website I visited about building an arbor, this was a 2-3 day project.  Ha!  I admit that for the first few days, I only worked 2-4 hours, so saying this project took a week doesn't mean that I was working all day every day, but it probably felt like it to my poor husband who spent the week sick in bed AND took care of the kids while I was working.  I tried to line up as many work hours as possible with "Kindle time" - that glorious 2 hours when the kids stare mindlessly at their Kindles and we can get stuff done - but this project took more time than Kindle time could give me.  

Day 4

This was a long one.  I tried to start early, but I still wasn't done until dinnertime.  I started by digging the remaining three post holes.  I swear this should have been easier.  I measured everything a million times but still ended up putting one post hole too close to the sidewalk and one too far.  So I ended up digging a little extra.  I also ran into a tree root from another stump that I had to chop out with an ax.  

I then decided to get the kids involved to put 6" of gravel at the bottom of each hole, but some holes got up to 18" of gravel, so again, something that should have been easy ended up being more work.  

I then cut my 10' 4x4s down to 9' so that hopefully the end hight would be 7" (it ended up being just slightly higher than this).  That way, if we ever need to move something large into the house, we can still get it under the arbor.  

Now came the time to force my family into free labor.  I made my husband and two boys hold the 4x4s while I placed the cement for the footings.  Try getting two 7-year-olds to stand still and hold 4x4s is not as easy as it sounds - and it doesn't sound easy!  

Before giving up for the day, I placed the cap pieces at the top that would hopefully help hold the posts in place while they dried.  (Que the overnight rain!)

Day 5

The next step was to mark all the beams for where the slats were going to go.  This was an awesome idea for when I was hanging off the edge of a ladder later trying to screw all the slats in! Originally, I wanted to put the whole top together on the ground, stain it, and then put it all up as one piece.  But considering one beam was heavy, I didn't think I could carry three of them plus 19 slats at one time with only one, sick husband to help.  So instead I decided to put it up one beam at a time. 

Mimi did a great job helping me measure everything to make sure was spaced correctly.

I'm so glad I marked all the beams before putting them up!  I just have to say it again.  What a good idea, me.  Luckily, screwing all the beams and slats on the arbor was only a half day activity today.  And it was nice enough out that the kids ran around in the yard a lot while I worked.

Day 6

Is it done yet??? As soon as possible, Landon and I went back to Menards to pick up the lattice supplies.  He was so gung-ho but ended up getting bored and cold really quickly.  At least he can still say he helped.  I then got to work cutting the frames.  Let's just say I'm really, really bad at cutting 45% angles!  It took me forever to get everything put together and it looked horrible (don't look at the arbor too closely!!!).  I'm going to try to fill in the gaps with wood putty or something to make it look better.  I'll need to figure out how that will stain first so I don't make things worse.  

Once all the frames and lattice was cut (easier said than done), I screwed the panes in place and voila!  Done...just don't think about the staining, hole filling, railing painting, or any of the other small things left to do.  I'm just going to say I'm done and leave it at that.  I'll post more pictures once it's all stained and has plants growing around it.  I hope I didn't trample too many plants building the arbor.  They were just starting to peak their heads up out of the ground when we all dug holes and walked all over them.  I even had to dig a hole right where the clematis was so I give it only a slim chance of growing back.  I'll need to get more vines to cover the arbor anyway so if it doesn't survive, it will be alright.  I will be sad if the bleeding heart doesn't survive.  I tried so hard to keep everyone away from it, but I know it got stepped on a lot.