Ornamental iron gates have both practical uses and fluent expressiveness. While they are providing you and your family with security from unwanted intruders, they also add elan and elegance to your landscape design. With a plethora of styles to choose from, ornamental iron gates present many design possibilities.
The centuries-old decorative art of ornamental iron requires great craft to arrive at its often dazzling decorative embellishments. Because there are few limitations imposed upon the freedom of design with wrought iron, over the millennia and in nearly every country of the world, artisans have meticulously designed the many intricate motifs.
You can find ornamental iron twisted into fine details in a range of styles, including the rarified figurations of the Renaissance, the elaborate adornments of the Baroque and Rococo periods, the sinuous stylings of Art Nouveau and the geometries of Art Deco.
The right gate can enliven the overall look of your property. Additionally, the entrance to your yard or garden, ranging from the grand to the simple, communicates something quite basic about you, your lifestyle and your beliefs. Gates provide you with an opportunity to make the desired statement.
For instance, the open pickets of ornamental iron gates indicate a certain willingness to share. Conversely, solid gates, in addition to providing security, indicate a desire for privacy or may hint at mystery. A garden gate in a bright color says something bold.
In choosing the gate you want to be greeted by upon each and every arrival, consider four of the fundamental design principles: harmony, emphasis, proportion and scale.
Harmony happens when all the elements of your landscape design blend together in a unified message. With ornamental iron, you can develop harmony by repeating the same design in your gate, your ornamental iron fence and a garden arbor, for example.
Emphasis within the landscape design vernacular means creating a point of interest or focal point. Perhaps it is your luxury swimming pool or outdoor room. In these cases, a gate that opens onto these spaces plays a supporting role.
The ratio between the size of one part to another is called proportion. Today we still use the formula developed in ancient Greece which states that the most pleasing proportion is one in which the ratio of the smaller section to the larger section is the same as that of the larger section to the whole.
Scale is a related principle and refers to how the size of one object relates to the space in which it is placed. You want your gate to be in scale with your fence, for instance, and the entire fencing in proper scale to your yard and home.
In addition to all the aesthetics of an ornamental iron gate, there are some very real practical considerations as well. In particular, in the Houston area you must deal with an expansive soil that tends to shift depending on the quantity of rain received or not received. An arch over the gate can serve as a sturdy frame that keeps the gate square and plumb with its locking mechanism.
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