Custom Gate | ODH

The progress on our ODH (operation dream house) project is slow going, but there is progress. This is our Grant’s latest edition to our property.

Grant has been diligent about getting the land fenced to keep trespassers off (it was pretty open range land before we had it, and now everyone thinks they can still do whatever they want on it). Any chance he gets, he recruits our boys to help him! My brothers have even had the opportunity to help with the fencing project when they’ve come to visit!

There was a lot of post setting & fence pulling, but it’s ALMOST done! This is the big post they set to hang the custom gate that Grant made. Little B is such an awesome worker (baby H and I just sat and watched ;)

And now the gate. I’m ever impressed with Grant’s skills! We make a pretty sweet team – I design, he creates (and usually it’s EXACTY like I designed it). We had been talking about gates and what we wanted to do, and finally after a long discussion & a few sketches, this is what we decided on.

He ordered the steel that night and had it started the next day when it was delivered. He also ran to the local ranch supply store and picked up some fencing.

Order list:

• 2- 24’ pieces of 1.5” square tube, 14 gauge = $80-90
• 1- 16’ utility panel fencing = $50

He let me rearrange the fencing, switching it back and forth between diagonal and straight, and ended up deciding on the initial plan. It’s always good to consider the options ;) (his patience with me and my designs is amazing!). Once the layout was finalized, he went back to work and made these amazing gates in no time!

Tools used:

• grinder
• cut off saw 
• welder

We still need to paint them (black) and I’m thinking the smaller gate needs to be switched around so that the diagonal triangle part is mirror image to the big gate (so, put it at the bottom left instead of the top right). Once we actually build a house, we’ll change it from a swinging gate to a raise-and-lower gate. It’s gonna be fancy ;)

Operation Dream House: part 1 – buying land

Grant and I have always wanted to build our own house. Ever since we moved here and bought our first house Grant has been on the hunt for a good deal on land. Then one day, all of a sudden Grant found a killer deal for 6 acres, 1.5 miles from our house. It had only been on the market for a couple days and within the week we were getting things going.

We finally signed and paid for the land (with a stinkin loan of course) in the middle of January. Buying land (and homes) is such an ordeal, all the paperwork that has to be signed. I swear you have to make at least one mark on each and every page they give you, initials or signature. But that part is long over and hopefully we wont be doing that again for a while!

Step one of building our dream house is done! Now, for the next couple of years, we will be paying off the land, looking at house plans and deciding what to do with all that land! Every time I go out there I realize how huge 6 acres actually is. It’s a pretty fun process, but if only we had all the time and money in the world so we could just get started building!

But for now, Grant is using it as storage for all of his huge logs, skid steer (bobcat), and sawmill parts…and now target practice with his new bow (early Father’s Day present). At least now our house doesn't look like a junk yard!!