Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

It’s time to introduce a new home renovation project: our to-be-installed black chain-link fence! In case you missed it, we recently adopted a four-and-a-half-year-old rescue dog. It has been two months since we welcomed her into our lives, and we’ve spent the last eight weeks getting to know each other and our respective routines.

Adopting an older dog has definitely come with its unique challenges, one of which being getting to know her established habits. We learned pretty quickly that she wasn’t used to being taken out on a leash because she refused to go to the bathroom in our neighborhood despite extra long walks. Then, we happened to take her over to my parents’ fenced-in yard for a visit, and she immediately went to the bathroom. It felt like such a breakthrough, but it also meant that we ultimately needed to consider the addition of a new fence for our yard.

Of course, we know that she will get used to being leash-walked and that it’s silly to splurge on a very expensive new fence just to give her a pee spot. After continuous walks in the neighborhood, our dog has actually gotten much better about doing her business while on a leash. Even still, we love the idea of getting a fence so that she can run/play/pee, and we figure a fence is also good for resale, so it’s not a bad investment either way.

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link FencePlans For A New Black Chain-Link FencePlans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

The first three photos above were taken from our second story window so you can get a bird’s eye view of our yard. It’s not big by any means, but it’s just large enough for us to spread out in and will give our dog plenty of room to roam. Now that we have our new DIY platform deck in place, we’re spending more and more time out in the yard, so we’re excited to add a fence to gain a little separation from our neighbors.

Speaking of neighbors, the tight layout is definitely another major reason why we’re planning on getting a fence. If you remember, we planted a line of privacy trees last year that we hope will fill in and give us some privacy from our immediate backyard neighbors. They have a couple of rambunctious kids who spend a lot of time playing outside (which is awesome and so charming to see), but it would be nice to have some kind of barrier to give both of our families some sense of seclusion.

If you want to understand our property demarcation better, the line of trees is a general marker for the back of our property, the rear of the shed is the righthand line of our lot, and the gravel rock bed with the mature privacy trees is the start of our neighbors’ yard on the left.

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

John and I spent a lot of time plotting out the plan for our new fence, going back and forth over different possibilities. Do we run the fence up to the back of the sunroom (seen to the right of the photo above)? Or do we just keep it a nice clean rectangle along the back of the house? In the end, we decided to go all the way up to the sunroom so that our pup had a little hill to run around on, and we’ll keep the other side of the fence lower down and parallel to the back of the house.

We also went back and forth over whether or not we wanted the fence to enclose the privacy trees within our yard, or run the fence on the inside of the trees. I wanted it on the inside of the trees to protect our brand new fence from the neighbor kids who tend to climb, pull on, and throw balls against their neighbors’ existing chain-link fences. John was adamant about having the fence on the outside edge of our property, though. He won this battle, but I’m ready to say “I told you so!” when the kids wreak havoc on our new $4,000 fence.

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

Our fence has yet to be installed, obviously, but I wanted to break down a handful of things that we’ve learned throughout the process of planning this addition to our home. First, we got two different quotes from a couple of local businesses here in town. The first quote was much higher than we anticipated (thanks, inflation…), and when the second company came out, I decided to be pretty blunt about the first estimate, saying that it was much more than we thought it would be. I think it was for that reason that the second company (the one we ultimately decided to go with) offered us a $700 discount on the estimate.

We also made sure to ask about the finish of the fence. We really love the look of black chain-link in comparison to the standard silver, but we were concerned about finish longevity. We were told by both companies that they use powder-coated fencing with some parts vinyl-wrapped. Knowing that both companies use the same product was comforting. It sounds like that’s the industry standard.

The contract we ended up signing specified that they aren’t responsible for marking the actual property lines. We have never had a surveyor come out, and we’ve yet to find any pins in the ground to specify where our lot begins and ends. I reached out to a local surveyor just to get a ballpark figure for marking our lines, and it came to about $500, which just isn’t happening. Instead, we’ve marked out the fence line well within what we assume is our property line. We’ll probably lose out on square footage in our yard because of that, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. We used orange lawn flags to map out the design of the fence ahead of time so there’s zero room for error when the team finally comes out to install our fence.

The final thing to do to prep for our new fence was to contact Virginia 811 to mark utility lines. We’ve done that and they’ve come out to mark our property already—no conflicts with gas or water lines, so we’re good to go! We’re now just waiting for the fence company to call and say they’re ready to come do installation (should be in the next month or so).

P.S. I took the photo below while John was in the process of mowing the grass, which is why you see that visible curved line around the garden bed. Our lawn is usually all level and clean—just FYI!

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link FencePlans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

I can’t wait to share the final reveal of our new fence with you, and I will absolutely update you on how the process goes. If you’re local, stay tuned because I’ll also have a full and honest review of the fence company we used. We actually landed on this company because they had done another black chain-link yard in our neighborhood and we noticed their company logo on the fence, so we gave them a call. That fence survived a recent tornado in our area, so we think that’s a good mark in their favor. At any rate, hopefully the company “wows” us with their work and then I can happily recommend them to you. Check back in July for the full story, and in the meantime, let me know in the comments if you have had a fence installed, or if you have a picky pup, too.

UPDATE: Here’s the fence reveal in case you want to see the conclusion of this story!

Plans For A New Black Chain-Link Fence

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How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

**This post was sponsored by Easy Wall Mount. All opinions are my own.

I don’t know about you, but the thought of hanging one of our TVs on a wall used to really intimidate me. It felt very permanent, for one thing, and I also just never trusted my mathematical talents enough to be confident I’d get it placed just right. Fast forward a handful of years, and I can say that I’ve successfully hung a TV on the wall using a traditional wall mount, but it took hours and almost cost us our marriage! I kid, I kid, but it was really frustrating, and John and I definitely butted heads throughout the whole process.

I vowed never to hang a TV again, but then the small start-up team behind Easy Wall Mount got in touch and asked if I wanted to try their TV mount kit. They claimed that it allowed you to hang a TV in just a couple of minutes without the hassle of bulky, expensive TV mounts. All I could think about was my nightmares of past experiences with traditional wall mounts, but I watched their kickstarter video and installation tutorial on YouTube, and decided to give it a shot. We just happened to have the perfect place to try it since we now have a TV in our lounge living space, and so I gave them the go-ahead to send the goods along for testing.

Long story long, it worked and no one was more surprised or excited than me. I was able to hang the TV in just a couple of minutes on my own, and it truly was as easy as hanging a picture. What actually ended up taking the longest amount of time was figuring out how to restyle our media console now that we had all this extra room without the TV sitting there in the way! Keep scrolling for the full story and the step-by-step tutorial in case you have a TV that you’d like to DIY mount on the wall.

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

Before this project, we had our 43-inch television sitting on top of the wooden media cabinet in our lounge at the back of the house. The console was plenty big enough to hold the TV plus a handful of décor accents and a lamp, but the television itself definitely took up the most amount of room. I was thrilled by the idea of making more space on top of the cabinet for things like a record player and more books. I also wanted the room to feel a little more open when you walked into it. The entry to the room is right next to the TV, and it felt a little encroaching sitting there on the table. It was for those reasons that I ultimately decided to test out the Easy Wall Mount.

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

The kit you get from Easy Wall Mount comes with everything you need to hang three different sized televisions—anything up to a 72-inch model and no more than 70 pounds in weight. You’ll get hooks, screws, bolts, the cable plus brackets, and rubber bumpers to help keep your TV from shifting once up on the wall. Note that the 1.5mm stainless steel wire rope has a breaking point of over 300 pounds, and it’s crimped to 2mm-thick steel connectors designed to fit most TVs. The wall hook itself is also twice as wide and 50 percent thicker than a traditional wall hook. Point being, you can trust these supplies!

You’ll also need to pull together a collection of your own tools to complete installation: a level, manual screwdriver, measuring tape, a pencil, stud finder, drill, and drill bits. If you want to hide the TV cables inside your drywall, you’ll also need a hole saw attachment for your drill, but more on that later.

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #adHow To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

To attach the Easy Wall Mount hanging wire, you’ll need to lay your television face-down on a soft work surface, remove its legs, and then choose the right size hanging wire for your TV. The kit comes with multiple options to try depending on the size of your TV. I ended up using the smallest option from the kit. Grab the included bolts, and screw those to the back of your TV through the brackets attached to the wire. There should be a series of bolt holes on the back of your TV made specifically for mounting your television on the wall. Those are the holes you’ll use for your hanging wire. Don’t over-tighten the bolts since doing so could damage your TV!

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

The actual installation of the hanging wire onto the TV takes about one minute flat. Now you can move on to the wall hook. As I said, you’ll receive a hook in your kit, along with the screws needed to attach the hook to the stud through your drywall. You definitely need to make sure you use a stud for this mounting project, otherwise your TV won’t be securely held again the wall and you risk it falling. Easy Wall Mount has a FasMount Sliding Wall Hook available that allows you to adjust your TV to different spots on the wall if a stud isn’t in your desired location. More information about that tool can be found here.

Use a stud finder to locate your stud. Luckily, our stud was in a great spot for the TV, so I didn’t need to worry about adding the Sliding Wall Hook. Measure the height at which you want your TV to sit, then mark the wall over the stud location. Hold the hook from your kit on the wall where you marked it, and then draw more marks through the holes in the hook onto the drywall. Set the hook aside. Next, find a drill bit that’s just a little smaller than the diameter of the screws that came in your kit, and use a drill to drill pilot holes through the drywall into the stud. Finally, screw the hook into the wall using the included screws, making sure it’s nice and snug.

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

After that, just loop your TV hanging wire over the hook, and use a level to make sure your TV is straight. Don’t forget to place rubber bumpers on the backside of the TV where it makes contact with the drywall! These help reduce sound vibration, and will keep your TV from shifting while up on the wall. Use your level once more to make sure the TV is straight again.

Now, one extra step that I decided to do before calling this project done was hiding the TV cords through the wall. Truth be told, I actually left the TV hanging up on the wall with cords exposed for about a week before committing to the process of hiding cords. It’s a very permanent thing to tackle since you have to drill large holes into the wall to pull it off, so I gave myself a week to make sure that (a) the TV was securely hung from its wire, and (b) that I liked its new position up on the wall. Sure enough, the TV was secure as can be, and I also loved the way it looked up on the wall, so I decided to go for it and finish the job by hiding the wires. To learn how to do so in your own TV room, follow my guide here. That post includes links to the hole saw I used.

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

I went into this project with a tiny bit of trepidation, but I can safely say that it was a total DIY win. I was able to hang our TV by myself in just a few minutes, and it has been securely hung for over a month now with no issues. I’ve actually hung heavier pieces of art far more precariously than this, and have never had any problems.

If you’re worried about the weight of your own TV if it’s bigger than 43 inches, like ours is, I don’t think you have to! The team behind Easy Wall Mount has rigourously tested their product, and can attest to its strength. In order to claim a weight rating of XX, the wall mount needs to hold four times that amount for a period of five minutes. They tested the strength of the wall mount and hook by hanging four water-filled five-gallon buckets and weights totaling approximately 250 pounds—far more than the 70-pound TV limit Easy Wall Mount recommends on their website. Everything held just fine, so there’s no need to worry!

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

Watch the video included above to see this whole process come together in our lounge in real time (or hop over to YouTube here to see it if you’re reading this from your email inbox), and let me know if you have a TV that you’d like to mount up on the wall. I love the idea of using this on a porch or outdoor deck, too! The hook is so discrete in comparison to traditional bulky wall mounts, so you could theoretically install it on your porch wall, and just bring the TV out whenever you want to set up an outdoor movie night. Just leave the hook exposed when you don’t need the TV, or hang a weather-proof piece of art there every other day of the year. The possibilities are practically endless…How would you use your Easy Wall Mount? Comment below!

How To Hang A TV Like Framed Art | dreamgreendiy.com + @easywallmount #ad

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