Sadie Mae John, aka The Awesome Orange, put together a DIY firewood rack built with Simpson Strong-Tie APRT connectors. Add basic tools and materials, and you can make a sturdy rack to keep your firewood organized and easily accessible.
With the launch of our new Outdoor Accents® APRTR rail connectors, we set out to create a DIY project that would be fun and easy to do. A simple fence trellis for climbing plants was a perfect choice and was easily completed in a couple of hours.
Popular DIYer Jen Woodhouse of The House of Wood is back again to build another amazing pergola, this time using Outdoor Accents Mission Collection decorative hardware. This collection gives a touch of southwestern flair to your outdoor structure with the arched mission-style profile of post bases, straps and angles. Learn more below about her build and her experience using our hardware.
As an avowed environmentalist and minimalist, Simpson Strong-Tie marketing copywriter Sean Krainert was excited to have the opportunity recently to visit in Oakland, California, where he met with owner and lead designer Pilar Zuniga. Built on a foundation of making beautiful things while factoring the health of the environment and community into every decision, her green business has flourished into a beacon for sustainable floral design.
What better way to kick up your feet and relax than with a porch swing? Learn how to build a freestanding porch swing with DIYer Jenny Palo of Palo_woodcraft. With the help of Simpson Strong-Tie® Outdoor Accents® decorative hardware, this porch swing was the perfect addition to her mother's backyard.
Building a bedframe might be easier than you think! DIY influencer Joana Bianchi upgraded her bedroom by building her own bedframe with the help of our Simpson Strong-Tie connectors. This classic and sturdy bedframe helps refresh any bedroom without breaking the bank.
As the weather warms up, a clothesline is a fantastic way to take advantage of the sunny days and be environmentally friendly when drying your clothes. Jenny Palo of Palo Woodcraft had a special request from her grandmother which inspired her latest build. See how she built her grandmother a clothesline with the help of our Simpson Strong-Tie hardware.
Simpson Strong-Tie Dealer Sales Representative Andrew Slezak spent his weekends for the past five months working on building the deck of his dreams using our Simpson Strong-Tie hardware. Learn what went into his DIY deck build and how he can’t wait to spend more time outdoors this summer.
It started with a simple question: How can we bring our commitment to building safe, strong structures to the our customers’ outdoor spaces? From that idea our Outdoor Accents® decorative hardware solution was born.
Outdoor Accents is a line of decorative hardware featuring ornamental wood connectors and fasteners. These products bring both beauty and strength to outdoor living structures such as pergolas, pavilions, arbors, gazebos and patio covers. Learn how a New England custom home builder was introduced to Outdoor Accents by our Associate Territory Sales Manager Emily Holtshouser during a presentation about our decorative hardware solutions. This builder gave his personal home a unique twist by showcasing the Outdoor Accents products indoors rather than outdoors. He used our decorative hardware to add style and flair to the beam posts throughout his new house.
Literature Specialist Amy Mayne's son, Trent, was quite busy last winter with his Boy Scout group building an outdoor kiosk with Simpson Strong-Tie products. Last winter, as part of his membership with Boy Scouts of America, my son Trent chose a project to give back to his school district, as well as help him earn his Boy Scouts Eagle Award. Trent rebuilt the kiosk at the Bloom Carroll High School Arboretum.
If you’re looking for a showstopping wood creation that you can also use for serving guests, look no further. This rustic bar is a fantastic entertainment hub for any backyard . With its wide counters and built-in shelves, you can stay fully stocked for any occasion.
Adorned by luscious vines, a garden arbor can add shade and style to any backyard garden. This latticed arbor helps nurture your climbing plants by giving them room to grow high where there’s plenty of sunlight and oxygen for the intake.
With the weather warming up, you’re probably looking forward to enjoying some sun with a cold drink in hand. Our build-it-yourself mobile cooler allows you to host outdoor gatherings in style and will keep your refreshments chilled for hours so your guests can help themselves without continued trips to the house. Stay cool and party on.
This past summer, my parents and I were talking about some of the latest home improvement projects that they had going on, and the topic of providing more shade for their backyard patio came up. For the last couple of years, they’d been looking into different ideas of what to do with this space, including sketching out on notebook paper layouts and particulars that would be nice to have. They’d tried portable patio umbrellas and various other ways to shade this area and had come to a decision that it was time to add a permanent structure that would serve
It’s no surprise that with so many of us stuck at home for most of 2020, there’s been an increased interest in DIY projects. Homeowners have been using the time to build everything from desks to alternative dwelling units. That interest is reflected in where we see visitors going on our website. We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of people downloading free project plans and an especially high interest in free pergola plans.
When we started planning a high-quality video for our new Outdoor Accents® Avant Collection™ of decorative hardware, we knew we wanted a well-known and talented social media Influencer to help us show off the versatility of this new line. Our marketing team’s first choice was DIYer and brand ambassador Jen Woodhouse.
One of the ways many homeowners increase the enjoyment (and monetary) value of their property is by adding a well-designed deck, pergola or other outdoor structure to their backyard. Whether it’s for entertaining or just chilling with a good read and a bracing beverage, a beautiful outdoor living space makes any backyard activity more desirable. Perhaps that’s why, in a 2017 survey, 25% of National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) remodelers reported adding a deck as one of their most common projects, and the figure was nearly identical for new home construction.
This summer we asked you to participate in our second annual “Give Us Your Best Shot” contest. If you were building a project with our Outdoor Accents® line of decorative hardware, we wanted to see it. More than 40 customers sent in photos of pergolas, hammocks, arbors and other outdoor living projects. Of those projects we had the enjoyable challenge of selecting two winners, one for a large project and one for a smaller project.
Simpson Strong-Tie’s “Give It Your Best Shot” photo contest is returning for the summer of 2019. Last year, we received dozens of beautiful shots of pergolas that were built using our Outdoor Accents connectors and fasteners. It was tough to choose a winner, but eventually we settled on Chris Lewis from Chula Vista, California.
Over the last year we’ve shared dozens of examples of how to use the Simpson Strong-Tie® Outdoor Accents® line of decorative hardware for adding strength and style to your new do-it-yourself projects. Have you considered using Outdoor Accents to enhance existing structures or backyard furniture? We’ve been waiting for such a project to come along, so when Pneumatic Addict’s Elisha Albretsen told us she wanted to use Outdoor Accents to redo her porch, it was an easy sell. Over two days, the DIYer swapped out her ugly support straps for our sleek strap ties and washers. The end result is
