Creating a Lattice-Top Gate and Converting a Mudroom to a Pantry
The backyard is enhanced with a lattice-top gate, and a mudroom is converted into a kitchen pantry to provide storage space.
Clip Summary
Bob talks with Jay Triandafilou from Architectural Fence. An elegant gate is being added to the fence as a finishing touch. The gate features a board bottom and a lattice top. It has tongue-and-groove sheathing. The lattice is half-lap lattice where each piece is individually cut so it makes a half-lap and fits in to make a smooth finish. The arch is a laminated cap above so it bends with the curve. The gate uses a half-lap frame on the side stile, which makes it very rigid and sturdy. The gate is made of the same white cedar that was used to make the rest of the fence and will weather nicely. The entrance to the back of the house has been modified by removing the small back door and installing a triple-panel sliding glass door that looks onto the newly landscaped backyard. The mudroom was converted into a pantry and outfitted by California Closets. Chloe Durant of California Closets reviews some of the work done in the pantry. The family needed space where they could prepare lunch for the two boys. In this space, a butler's pantry was designed and installed, featuring a deep countertop, drawers for storage, and space down below for recycling. Dave Weston of California Closets explains how the unit was put into the space. The California Closets system operates on rails. The rail is attached to the wall and hangers are attached to the secured rail. These hangers allow partitions to go up and down and hold any amount of weight put upon it. The finished product has four drawers, a couple of compartments for recycling bins, countertop space, and space up above for storage of kitchen appliances.
And what a wonderful maintenance-free backyard. Let's come over to the other end of the garden now and say hi to Jay Torantafila from our Architectural Fence.
Hi. How are you, Jay?
And you are putting the finishing touches on this entire fencing job, with what has got to be one of the most elegant gates in this town. Tell us about it.
Thank you, Bob.
This is a void bottom with a lattice top gate, Bob. It has a tongue in groove sheathing that we used.
OK.
And above you see this lattice which is a what we have a half lap lattice.
Half lap because, well how is it constructed?
Each piece is individually cut, so that it makes a half lap. So it fits in and makes a smooth finish.
So you run it through a table saw with a dado blade?
Sure, yeah.
And then the arch?
The arch is a laminated cup above so it bends with the curve.
And the construction of the gate is really well thought out. I mean this is one sturdy item.
Very, it is very well made. You have the half lap frame on the side style. That makes it rigid. Very rigid.
Very rigid. Yeah. And then of course it's the same white cedar as everything else throughout here. So it's going to weather. Yes
It's gonna turn nice and gray.
It will silver.
Excellent. Thanks Jay.
You're welcome.
It's a beautiful job. And one of the interesting things that we did to the back of the house is to modify the entrance. There was just a single little back door into a tiny little mud room, if you will.
And by inserting this big trio of patio doors, not only have we given them a view of this new garden from inside the kitchen , but we have also turned that little mud room into a terrific little pantry that we have outfitted with California Closets.
Well, at California Closets, we come to each person's house after they call us at the office and set up an appointment. We take a look at at the space, and see how the person needs help, or if they have a special vision that they'd like to do.
In Sarah's case, it was an old house with sort of an extra walkway. There was a door right here, where the window is right now, and there were lots of hooks with things hanging on them, it was sort of cluttered, and it felt a little bit dark.
So what Sarah told me is that she needed a space for growning families, for her family that's growing, and to make a lunch. So what we've designed here is a butler's pantry style with some little drawers going in. It's going to be very quaint.
A deep counter top with some space up above for snacks and crackers. The drawers will have little baggies, maybe some spoons for yogurt and things like that. And then underneath, some open space for recycling storage.
This is the rail here, this is the backbone of whole closet system. What we do is we attach this side of the rail to your wall. It will fasten into the studs with those screws.
Also then we, when you take your hanger, the hanger sits onto the rail like this, which allows the partitions to be solid . It allows partitions to go up and down, and you can basically stand on it. It will hold any amount of weight that you want to put it onto the system.
Alright, here's the last of the four drawers. They all come complete with full extension drawer runners. Down bottom you've got a couple compartments, the one on the right side can be used as your recycling bin.
Up top's great because it's got wide open space on both sides for your kitchen appliances. We also have dividers in there which made great use of your cookie trays and muffin tins.
So basically, what we've done here is we've just taken a jumbled up mud room and we've converted it into a useful pantry for your kitchen.
And that's what it looks like moved into. Not bad, huh? We're outta time. Join us again next week and we'll give you some tips on exterior paint jobs and how best to accomplish them in cold weather. Also, we're installing a trellis out of western red cedar and and ipe decking.