174 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



May, 1 9 10 



intfiiN 



LJT 



Conducted by A. Russell Bond 



Home-Built Garden Seats and Pergolas 



By B. A. Vanderveer 



■ ^/rz 



11 H summer rapidly approaching, it is high 

 time for the handicraftsman to forget for 

 a while his furniture designs and plans for 

 indoor decoration, and bend his efforts 

 towards beautifying his outdoor surround- 

 ings. It is surprising how little it takes 

 to convert a commonplace grass plot into 

 a really attractive lawn. 



Suppose we start with a lawn or garden seat. The 

 design should be simple and yet quite substantial, because 

 light furniture is not adapted to outdoor use. The work- 

 ing plans here published suggest a seat that is similar to, 

 but not identical with, the seat shown In the photograph. 

 For the sake of simplicity in construction, we have shown 

 a straight-backed bench, but 

 It would be In perfect keep- 

 ing with the general design 

 to Incline the back, pro- 

 vided the seat posts are 

 kept vertical; nor would 

 this change be found very 

 difficult. 



Before starting to build 

 the bench. It should be 

 noted that the seat Is quite 

 low; possibly too low to 

 suit the fancy of some peo- 

 ple. It would do no harm 

 to add an Incn or two to the 

 height of the seat, in whicn 

 case some may prefer to 

 make the seat twenty, or 

 even twenty - two Inches 

 broad, instead of eighteen, 

 as shown. If the seat is to 

 be made higher, and more 

 than four feet long, it really 

 s h o ul d be comfortably 

 broad. However, the de- 

 sign we Illustrate will pro- 

 duce a very quaint, little, 

 narrow-seated, high-backed 

 garden seat. 



The parts may be mor- 

 tised and tenoned together, 

 but this is not at all neces- 

 sary. It is far easier to pin 

 them together with dowels, 

 which will be entirely con- 

 cealed when the seat Is 

 painted. The slats of the 

 back and sides may to ad- 

 vantage be nailed directly 



Working plans for a small garden seat 



A garden seat under the favorite shade tree 



to the edge of the seat board, after which the ends may be 

 covered by finishing strips, notched out to lit over them. 

 The top rails need only be grooved to receive the upper 

 ends of the slats, which should be nailed In place from 

 the back. In cutting out the posts, care should be taken 

 to use precisely the same kind of curve for one side as for 

 the other. A good plan Is to cut out a cardboard template. 

 After using the template to draw one side, It is Inverted to 

 form a guide to draw the other side. After one post Is 

 cut out. It will serve as a template for all the others. 



The bench should be painted white, and may be placed 

 in a convenient nook of the garden, or under the favorite 

 shade-tree. 



The old-fashioned grape arbor or trellis, If reconstructed 



along the lines of an Italian 

 pergola, will probably do 

 more than anything else 

 to alter the general tone 

 of one's garden or lawn, 

 and to bring It out of 

 the commonplace. Al- 

 though in Italy pergolas 

 are used for supporting 

 grape vines, they are not 

 limited to this use here. 



There Is nothing very 

 difficult about the construc- 

 tion of a pergola. To be 

 sure, it can be made 

 quite elaborate, but, as a 

 rule, the simpler the design, 

 the more beautiful It Is. 

 Two of the accompanying 

 illustrations show a home- 

 I built pergola The builder 

 I may be seen at the entrance. 

 I VIeing with this pergola in 

 simplicity of design Is the 

 structure shown In the 

 other photograph, which 

 graces the gardens of a 

 large estate. 



A few dimensions of 

 each design are given, to 

 assist the amateur In plan- 

 ning his own pergola. In 

 the home-built pergola that 

 we illustrate, six by six-Inch 

 posts are used. They should 

 be burled In the ground to 

 a depth of at least two feet, 

 with stone rammed in about 

 them, so as to provide a 



