DIY Beautiful Rustic Country Log Fence

I had a wild hair idea recently and my husband helped me run with it. I wanted to create a long simple country style fence where the line of cedar trees once stood- and I wanted to use the branches from the trees to build it. So today is all about this diy log fence and how easy it was to build. Side note- truly, the sweet peas have been so breathtakingly beautiful this year! I am in awe of how incredible they look.

Today for Friday Favorites, we are looking back at this simple and easy garden diy project that added so much charm to our property.

Rustic Log Fence

I chatted with my husband and what kind of a fence I was looking for. Something that meandered along the tree line. That mingled with the natural scenery. That was inspired by nature and felt like it was running across a meadow in Tahoe like so many I remembered seeing in my youth. I thought about adding solar lanterns to the fence posts and creating a little moment of magic in this area.

DIY Log Fence

We have a big pile of long branches that were left from the cedar trees that my husband was going to cut up for kindling. We scavenged up the longest branches to be used as the rails and also found some of the chunkier branches to cut for the fence posts.

We started with mapping out where the fence posts would go and then my husband dug the holes for them. We decided to build each section one by one rather than digging all the fence posts and then adding the fence rails. The reason why? The branches were not all uniform in length that was usable and so, there are a couple sections a tad longer and a couple a tad shorter. I am okay with it because I like things a little wonky and it isn’t really noticeable. Especially with the sweet peas that have grown in.

We attached each rail in an x formation and used screws to keep them in place. We may add some wire or twine for a little bit more of a country look but for now they are simple and holding steady just as they are.

A New Line of Beauty

I mentioned that one of my favorite things about this property was the long line of cedar trees that dotted through the middle of our back acreage. Unfortunately after several years of heavy winter storms and the damage that came with those- those cedar trees took a lot of damage. Each storm took out several of them- either by other trees falling on them or by damage from the storm and them having to be cut down for safety. After we thought all the damage and risk was removed- we were left with 6 or so trees that had a few areas missing, but were there. One day, while walking past one of them, we found that one of the main trees by the path had a split down the center of the bottom of the trunk so much so that you could see daylight coming through. It was a major risk for splitting fully and landing on the house-the arborists actually sent someone to remove it a couple of hours later they were so concerned by it- each of those cedar trees were over 200′ tall. After that tree was removed, there were just a handful left of the line and they each had major issues and had to be removed. I mentioned recently how sad it has made me to see them missing from where they stood for close to 100 years. That line of trees was one of the first things I fell in love with at this property and they have given me years and years of beauty and inspiration. I am getting more used to how this area of the yard looks now and the sweet peas growing in such abundance this year has felt like a gift from the universe to remind that there is an abundance of beauty in that spot even now. And there truly is.

While a low rustic fence like this one isn’t a line of towering old growth trees, it reminds me of the pattern of the trees on repeat looking down the line of it and I also like that we honored the trees by using some of their branches to build it. We are planning on adding another section of fence on the opposite side – currently we have a temporary garden fence there to keep the deer out of the flowers but that will be changing.

What do you think of how this rustic log fence turned out?

Shop the Look

The lanterns with the blue background are solar – and the others are ones that turn on and off. We have both and they both are great for outdoor ambiance.

For more garden content- you might enjoy this post about Lambs Ear HERE and of course, you can find a chapter of garden content in my new flower book FRENCH COUNTRY COTTAGE IN BLOOM HERE too.

Happy Monday friends.