When I last shared about the custom A/C screen/surround we’re building, it looked like this…

My dad came over on Thursday to help me with turning those primed and painted pieces into finished panels.  My dad and I are a good building team because we have a similar approach – done is better than perfect.  Several times, we said something like, “We’re not sending anyone to space in this thing, so it’ll do.”  Even Jeff, who usually brings more perfectionism to the table, said it doesn’t have to be perfect.  It’s just hiding an A/C unit.  No one is hanging from it or living in it.

That being said, now that we’ve built two of the panels, I can see some minor flaws in my design!  Perhaps they are not so much flaws as things that could be improved upon.  My design allows for access to the A/C unit for regular maintenance, but I also wanted it to be easy to disassemble or be moved if that’s ever necessary.  So, I planned to build the panels and then attach them to the 4 x 4 posts using L-brackets.

This plan does work, but we discovered two problems.  Number one, since we’re building custom lattice out of 1 x 2s, these panels are heavy!  That will be a lot of weight on the L-brackets and the screws holding them in.  Second, there is only a 1 x 4 board to attach the L-bracket to on the panel side, so we had to use small 3/4″ screws.  Does it work?  Yes.  Is it the best way possible to assemble one of these panels?  Probably not.  But the first panel is built, and Jeff kept assuring me this idea would work fine even if there are better ways to do it.

In hindsight, I would’ve built the panels on the posts, so everything would be one piece.  There are two pieces of good news, though.  Number one, what we built looks really good and will work fine, so there is no need to take everything apart and rebuild it.  Number two, I bought, primed, and painted way too many 1 x 2 furring strips, so we have the opportunity to build some more panels to screen other things like the propane tank.  I also have plenty of materials for some more trellises and garden structure projects.

I was excited to see the first panel in place when it was finished, so Jeff and I carried it around and put it in place.  Oh my gosh, it looks amazing!  Just imagine it with caps and a piece of finishing trip along the top.  It makes the patio feel cozy and more finished.  As I was looking at the five-foot-tall panel, though, I realized it was fine along the side of the patio, but might look too tall for the front panel.  It would also start to obscure the window, which isn’t what I wanted.  Sometimes things look good on a measuring tape and not as good in actuality.  I took some time to have a good think about it and decided we should build the last two panels a foot shorter.

I drew a very professional and realistic-looking mock-up to show my idea on Instagram…

The funny thing is, this little doodle actually helped me visualize that a shorter panel wouldn’t look stupid or like a mistake.  It could look like an intentional design choice, and is an opportunity to add a curved element to all the straight lines.  I ordered a large wooden bracket to visually bridge the two panels and built the next panel a foot shorter…

I also doubled-up the 1 x 4s on each end so we could use longer screws to attach the brackets.  By the time we build the second screen, we’ll be seasoned pros!  But that’s how it often goes.  You have to stay on your toes and be flexible when doing DIY projects.

I ran out of paint last week and underestimated the materials I needed, so I had to restock before we could finish everything and put it all together.  I hope we’ll have it installed later this week!