River Oaks Landscaping Arbor

We are thinking of having an arbor constructed in our yard. We would like it to be built of cedar, but also want to have lighting installed in the structure. Investing in the high cost of cedar and having visible wires seems like a bit of an over expenditure for us. Do you have any methods of landscape arbor construction that would create a more affordable and presentable aesthetic?

Yes. We recently installed just such an arbor as part of a larger landscaping project in River Oaks. Rather than use cedar, we built the arbor out of pressure-treated, rough cut pine and stained it to look like cedar. We built this arbor to look like part of the landscape itself, and designed it for maximum comfort. We installed lighting on the arbor to spotlight urns located between the arbor and the swimming pool, and placed a ceiling fan in the top portion of its interior. In order to avoid detracting from the aesthetic of the arbor and the backdrop of the landscape, we took a rather innovative approach to wiring the structure that eliminated the need for external conduits.

We actually erected the beams and joints, notched each one individually, and then took them and ran the wires through them. Notching the beams and joints in this manner both added strength to the arbor and allowed us to completely hide the wires within the wood. We also installed lighting controls on the interior of the beams so that they could not be seen from the front.

While the cost of this type of labor is more expensive, in the long run, it is well worth the investment. Rough-cut pine lasts much longer than cedar—up to 30 years—and thus eliminates the need for maintenance and replacement. Also, the elegant presentation of a wireless design like this contributes to the illusion that the arbor is actually part of the landscape and its background vegetation. In the case of our River Oaks project, the arbor was framed against a hedgerow planting of Japanese yew. The beams were slightly arched to look more lifelike, and to provide a compliment to the arc of the pool. This sense of unity between Nature and structure was further magnified at night by mercury vapor up lighting which illuminated the yew behind the arbor, and blended the colors of the wood and the greenery together in a surreal synthesis.

One more step was also taken in the construction of the structure. We made OGEE custom cuts in the beams and planted ivy at the base of the arbor. In the next few years, the ivy will grow up the beams and cover the wood in leaves. This will further blend the arbor with the greenery of the landscape and make the entire structure appear to be something that sprung from the ground as if the earth itself had somehow conceived of a perfect outdoor structure.