Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Country Style Room Divider

Alright, I've been promising a How-To on the screen room divider, so here we are. I don't have exactly how many boards you need. 1. I winged it by going back and forth to Menards. 2. It depends on how many sections you want. But here it goes:

Country Style Room Divider
---------------------------------
-1x3 boards
-staple gun
-staples
-4x8 standard lattice (we'll use scrap for another project)
-chicken wire
-4 silver hinges (to match the chicken wire)
-2-3 L-brackets (optional)
-stain
Alright, this is pretty straight forward.
1. Cut your vertical boards to 6'. Miter the end of only one side to a 45 degree angle. You need to do this 12 times.
2. Cut the top crossbar to 24 inches. Miter IN both sides to a 45 degree angle. (long side should be 24, short should be 21-ish). Do this 6 times
3. Next we need to do the middle and bottom crossbars. Straight-cut these to 21". DO NOT MITER THE ENDS! Do this 12 times.
4. Now you need to start assembling the pieces. The mitered corners should fit nicely. Look at the posted picture for reference as to how the pieces go. A monkey could figure this out. BUT you should pre-drill holes for your screws because 1x3 boards will split easily without.
5. Once that's all assembled, roll out your chicken wire onto the top opening. Staple it in place, then cut around the edges. That's the easiest way to do it, or else the chicken wire will keep rolling up on you. Do this for only 3 screens.
6. Cut your standard lattice to the dimentions on the bottom hole. Mine was 21" square, so I cut my lattice to 23" square. Cut your pieces the LONG way. This is important for the scrap for a future project. You should end up with one really long piece of lattice.
7. Staple the lattice to the bottom hole on only three. You should probably use longer staples for this. Now you should have 3 screens with chicken wire and lattice, and then 3 with nothing but the frame. Screw the empty frame onto the one with the chicken wire/lattice. This will hide the prickly wires and give it a nice finish. You are essentially sandwhiching in the chicken wire and lattice between two frames.
8. Now all you have to do is stain it all. (You may also want to do this to each piece before assembling to cut down on mistakes of painting the chicken wire, or just be careful). I chose to spray paint the lattice. This is something I also did on an upcoming project. If you only do 2 coats, the paint won't sink in to some rough spots in the lattice. I LOVED THIS! It gave the whole piece a more aged, weathered look, which is a style that I'm addicted to right now.
9. Install the hinges where the 2 lower crossbars are. If you want this screen to fold up nicely, intall the hinges on the front side between the first two, then on the back of the last two.
10. This step is optional. I connected the screen to my house using the L-Brackets. It made a nice little room for my potting bench.
Stay tuned for more projects to come!

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