How to Build a Rustic Pergola
A rustic pergola is an simple and fun project, whether it's an addition to your backyard decor or a centerpiece for an outdoor wedding. This simple to construct project is fun to design and is very inexpensive to construct if you have plenty of access to natural wood.
What You'll Need:
- Drill
- Screws
- Drill bit
- Saw
- Branches
- Gather a small amount of straight and attractive sticks that area a variety of lengths and diameters. You'll need at least four long and thin sticks that are the height of the pergola. You'll also need two long and thick sticks that are the same width of your pergola. You can collect several more at various lengths. This will provide you with more creative freedom.
- Saw each of the smaller branches and leaves off. Try to cut close to the trunk so that you are left with several long straight sticks that you can use for assembly. Create a sketch on paper of the design that you like.
- Put one side of the pergola on the ground using two long sticks that are parallel to one another. Once stick should run across the top of them for the roof. While the sticks will need to overlap a few inches. Connect the sticks together using long screws. You can pre-drill your holes to prevent your sticks from splitting.
- Construct the other side of the pergola opposite of the first one. Then stand each of them up and connect them together with a shorter stick on one of the corners to serve as a crossbar. Connect the two sides with around three more sticks to ensure that it is stable.
- Connect as many of the other sticks and branches as you'd like. You can have several of the branches bracket the corners for more stability. Connect the leaves and other natural decorations if you desire.