Photo of the fence

And a photo of the patio .... for what that may be worth.

Not sure what you need help with! Wow! Your drawing is very good, and your patio is stunning! Your wife found a great antique iron fence! It will look so nice the way you depict it!

Suzi

I love your plan, the fencing and your patio! I want to see the 'after' pictures!

Pam

Nice drawing and pictures.

The top of the fence is the important height to set and heights of everything else emanate from that.

IMO it looks a little delicate ... as if those columns wouldn't be all that hard to break with a big bat. There is too much disparity between the top of the fence and the column height. It would look stronger if the columns were shortened somewhat and also made beefier, like 20" square. It would improve the appearance if you used thicker caps on the columns ... at least 3 1/2". The knee wall would look upgraded if you top it with a rowlock course, which could be offset to the face as are the column caps, for an added shadow detail. I'm showing the far left column also topped with an offset rowlock course, prior to setting the cap, so you could see what that would look like. I would definitely widen the gate. Right now, it is scaring the people with fat butts who are thinking they'll be better off finding another way around!

More than likely, you'll need to support the fence every 6' or so with a steel post (roughly 2" square ... a fence specialist can advise) firmly attached to, or embedded into the wall. This will eliminate your needing an overabundance of brick columns; they can be spaced out to whatever works best for the overall design, while the steel posts do the rest.

This post was edited by Yardvaark on Fri, Mar 14, 14 at 1:07

You've got a beautiful house there and a beautiful patio. The antique fencing is very cool, however I see stylistic conflict between the rusty fencing and your manicured, formal house--they don't go together visually or in their styles to me. I see the fencing belonging to a funky old house in an artsy neighborhood--it's great fencing, but does it really belong with your house?

Thanks everyone for the compliments. My wife had always wanted a large patio but I kept putting it off. Our daughter got engaged in June of 2011 and advised us that she wanted the reception in the back yard. Wedding was June 30 2012. I had a year to do the patio and a LOT of extra landscaping but somehow it got done. I actually built two patios and the same time ..... my first and my LAST !!!!!

I had never done anything like that before but figured it wasn't brain science or rocket surgery so I jumped in on it. Finished everything 9 days before the wedding.

hoovb .... As far as the style of fence not going with the house? I actually do agree with that and I was searching for a different type of fence but never found what I wanted at a reasonable price, quantity, or ..... old. I didn't want new fence.

Fist time I saw the fence I wasn't sold on it, but the more I looked at it I began to like the more open "airy' look of it than some other fencing I originally had in mind.
We've been vacationing the past few years in cities like Savannah, GA and most recently Charleston, SC and has looked at a lot of gardens, fences, brick posts etc and it seems that a lot of time people used what they had or what was available so ...... we're doing the same. I think I can tweak on the brick design and landscaping and hopefully bring it together.

Yardvaark ......WOW !!! I love your revision and suggestions. Thanks for that. I do like the beefier columns and brick suggestions. I'm sure the "boss" will too.

Thanks everyone for the comments and help. Any additional comments or suggestions will be appreciated.

One of my "during construction" photos.

Mizzou, if you are haunting gardens in the South, absolutely do visit Williamsburg, Va if you ever have the opportunity and have not already done so. It is AWESOME, SUPERB and INSPIRING to the maximum degree! (At least I think so!)

(That was quite an ambitious project you took on back then.)

I really love that old fence and think it would look great with your house!

You could always paint it black or some other complimentary color. Our decks and front yard have decorative wrought iron fencing and railings. It was all a light beige when we bought the house, but we opted to paint most of it black. Got the thumbs up from the neighbors. The rails we painted white are beginning to rust only 8 months later.........

Charleston, SC is so very inspiring!

Please post photos of your finished project!

I'm back with an update. Almost a year later and the project has finally begun. Brick has been delivered and Saturday we started digging footings for the posts and walls. Sunday it rained all day. I've got a MESS !!!!!

Before:
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After:
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You're going to have some fun! Hope all goes well for you.