Wooden trellis can transform a plain wall or old bricked-up doorway without costing a fortune. Below I show how I built three simple trellis styles for about £15 and fixed them to a brick wall.
This is the side of our garage. The previous owners had bricked up an old doorway and the patchwork of bricks never matched. It was the perfect place to add a decorative trellis—either a fan-shaped piece to cover most of the doorway or a large door-sized rectangular panel.
I ended up using treated 1.8m fencing strips from a local supplier at 85p each. With basic tools and a little patience you can make attractive trellis panels that suit your wall and plants, without expensive store-bought versions.
Things you’ll need to make wooden trellis
- Treated wooden strips (length and quantity depend on size)
- Hand saw or fine-toothed saw
- Saw horses or a stable table
- Clamps to hold strips while cutting and nailing
- Tape measure and pencil
- Hammer and finishing nails (or a nail gun if reliable)
- Concrete screws (with appropriate torx/driver bit)
- 6mm masonry drill bit and combi drill (hammer setting)
- Spirit level
- Safety goggles and ear defenders
How to make a fan-shaped wooden trellis
Start by measuring the opening or area you want to cover. For my fan trellis I measured the top width of the old doorway so the finished piece would fit neatly.
Lay out five or more strips with their bottoms together and fan the tops until you roughly reach the desired width. This initial layout helps determine the size of the base strip that will lock the gathered ends in place.
Press a straight board against the bottom of the gathered strips to square the base. Measure the width of the gathered base, add 6cm, and cut a strip to that length so you have about a 3cm overhang on each side when fitted.
Nail the base strip across the bottom of the gathered pieces. I used a nail gun initially, but switched to finishing nails and a hammer because my nail gun fired blanks intermittently. Work on a large, square sheet of wood as a reference surface to keep everything aligned.
Mark the centre on your reference board and align the middle trellis strip with that mark. Fan the remaining strips evenly, measuring between adjacent strips so spacing is regular.
Measure roughly 7cm down from the top of the outer strips and use that as the reference line for the top cross strip. Cut the top strip with the same 3cm overhang either side, align it with your pencil marks and secure with nails. Then measure the midpoints between top and bottom cross strips and add as many intermediate strips as you’d like to achieve the desired density.
I didn’t glue the joints because once the trellis is mounted to the wall with multiple screws it will be held firmly in place.
How to make a square or rectangular wooden trellis
A rectangular trellis is straightforward. Use a straight edge or a square sheet of wood as your guide. Lay three long vertical strips, one against the sheet edge, then mark out and cut the horizontal strips to the required width.
I cut nine horizontal strips to the same length and nailed the top and bottom strips first to hold the shape. Re-check squareness against the edge of the sheet and then add the remaining horizontal slats, spacing them evenly. Finishing nails or staples from a reliable gun will keep movement to a minimum while you assemble the frame.
How to hang trellis on a brick wall
Concrete screws are an easy option for mounting trellis to brick and remove the guesswork of choosing rawl plugs. To position, hold the trellis where you want it, then drill a 5mm pilot hole through the timber at the top centre so the bit leaves a small mark on the brick behind.
Remove the trellis, switch to a 6mm masonry bit in hammer mode, drill into the brick to the correct depth, then refit the trellis and drive a concrete screw through the timber and into the brick. Use a spirit level to check vertical and horizontal alignment before fully tightening. Repeat with two fixings near the top and two near the bottom to prevent movement.
Wear goggles and ear protection when drilling. Use a torx or star driver if your screws require it, and make small adjustments if the trellis looks slightly off—visual balance is often more important than perfect measurements.
Project summary
- Prep Time: about 1 hour for each panel depending on size
- Build Time: 1–2 hours per trellis
- Cost: roughly £15 using treated fence slats
- Yield: multiple panels depending on the number of slats purchased
- Author: Vikkie Lee
More DIY gardening projects
- DIY dog kennel
- Window flower boxes with gallows brackets
- How to hang flower baskets
- Tips for spraying fence panels
- Installing fencing with concrete posts and gravel boards
- Laying a garden patio
- DIY rendered garden step
- Installing a gravel driveway
- Staining and protecting decking
- Building a decking and herb garden
