Beautiful Home Entrance Gate Ideas

Choosing Your Home’s Entrance Gate

The front of your home greets you when you arrive home and it is also what gives people the first impression of your home from the street. Building a home entrance gate is a great DIY project and also an investment in your home. So, making the best choice is important! There are many factors to take into account when choosing the best entry gate for your home.

When you are in the planning stages of designing your home’s entrance gate there are some important factors to take into account.

• Are you building the gate for security reasons?
• Do you want your gate to provide privacy for your property?
• Will your gate basically add design appeal to your home?
• Are you adding an entrance gate to your home to provide a safe environment for your children and/or dogs?

Choosing a gate for your home can transform the exterior of your home while providing intriguing design elements while keeping your property safe. Getting very clear about the purpose of building a home entrance gate will help you in choosing the best style, building medium, and more. Gates and fences in some areas can possibly lower your homeowner’s insurance cost yearly, which is an added benefit of building a home entrance gate and fence.

Your Home Entrance Gate’s Style

Once you have figured out why you are building an entrance gate to your home the next decision in the building process is deciding what style of gate you want for the entrance to your home. Your home’s style will help you decide on what type of home entrance gate style you want. Keeping with the design of your home in choosing and building your home’s entrance gate allows your gate to enhance the style of your home.

If you have a modern home with minimalist lines you will want to choose a gate style with sleek lines and possibly a metal gate and wood gate. If you have a contemporary home with an very modern look you can build a gate that is more avant-garde or more ornate. A more traditional home such as ranch style or farmhouse design lends itself to wooden gates.

The style of gate you choose for your home’s entrance should complement the design and curb appeal of your home. Your home entrance gate will be the first thing you see coming home each day and you want it to fit your style and needs so it is a good aesthetic fit and also feels like you are coming home.

What Type of Gate Would Fit Your Needs?

There are many different types of gates to choose from; the choice would depend on style, material, size, and purpose. The two main types of gates are swing gates and sliding gates.

Sliding Gates:

Sliding entrance gates for your home work well if you have a large opening for you gate or need a larger home entrance gate style. These can be installed as a bottom slider or a top slider, much like a barn door. If you need a home entrance gate in excess of 6 feet wide, this type of gate might be a good solution. A sliding gate can be constructed of metal, wood, or both metal and wood.

Swinging Gates:

Swinging gates are usually what people choose for a home entrance gate. If you have limited space a swinging gate is probably your best choice. If you have the space a double swinging gate is a wonderful solution. Swinging gates can be swing in or swing out, whichever works best for your gate installation. Given your fencing choice you will also want to determine whether you want your gate to open from the left or right.

Is Privacy Important?

If privacy is an important consideration in choosing your home entrance gate, you will want to think about strength of materials and probably a more solid not airy gate design. Metal gates are one of the best choices if privacy is an important factor because it is harder to manipulate by someone. If security and privacy are important then choosing a good locking system for your home entrance gate is also an important idea to consider.

Choosing Your Home Entrance Gate Materials

This is the fun part of the DIY design process of building an entrance gate to your home. You have so many choices when it comes to materials with each one having benefits and also drawbacks:

Wood Home Entrance Gates:

Wood is one of the most often chosen materials for building a home entrance gate. Wood lends itself both to modern designs and also to more traditional designs of entrance gates. Wood can be stained or painted and lends itself to many different design ideas. Wooden gates require more maintenance than their metal counterparts since they should be stained or painted more frequently. Wooden gates can offer a good level of privacy due to the strength of construction.

Wrought Iron Entrance Gates:

Wrought iron home entrance gates can be fashioned into exquisite designs. For most of our DIY community this would be a gate that would be bought and installed due to the material and equipment needed for construction. A wrought iron home entrance gate is a wonderful choice for more traditional homes especially if they have historic value. Farmhouse home designs, traditional home designs, and Mediterranean, homes lend themselves to having wrought iron home entrance gates as a good fit. They can be installed as single swinging or double swinging gates for the entrance to your home.

Steel or Aluminum Entrance Gates:

Both steel and aluminum are robust, durable, and simple to maintain. Steel is one of the strongest gates you can purchase is security is an issue. Aluminum home entrance gates now come in many coated colors and options that allows for some great design choices. If choosing a steel or aluminum home entrance gate adding wooden posts gives your home entrance a softer look rather than all steel or aluminum.

Home Entrance Gate Maintenance Costs

The decision that faces all of us is beauty versus maintenance when it comes to home entrance gates. Steel and aluminum have the least maintenance time and costs with wood having the most. Wooden gates need to be painted or stained every few years, more so if you live within a half mile of the ocean or if your gate gets lots of direct sunlight.

Wrought iron gates need regular maintenance to avoid corrosion, they need to be sanded or pressure washed every couple of years and repainted to keep looking good. The lowest maintenance choice is powder-coated aluminum for your home entrance gate due to the longevity of the coated paint.

Home Entrance Gate Hinges & Handles

This is the fun part, choosing your gate hardware! Gate hardware can make or break the look of your home entrance gate. Shed Windows and More has a good selection of gate hardware to fit many styles of home entrance gates. Take a look at all the different choices we stock in gate hardware and send us photos of your finished home entrance gate to info@shedwindowsandmore.com.