When I was growing up, we had a metal garden gate around our house. We had it for security, not decoration. It always looked uncomfortable and foreboding. I know that it should have made me feel safer, but it didn't. Instead, it made me feel locked in as surely as the world was locked out. I thought that all metal fences and gates were like this – that all they did was make the world feel divided and uncomfortable. It took me a while to realize how much of a difference design makes. A wrought iron gate has a much different feel than a simple steel one.

The first time I saw a really nice wrought iron garden gate was actually at the local cemetery. I had a friend who used to like to go down there to get away from everything, and one day he took me along with him. From outside, the wrought iron garden gates were foreboding and intimidating, but from the inside they made us feel protected and peaceful. The cemetery was a restful place, a place of perpetual peace, and the wrought iron railing that surrounded marked it as separate from the rest of the world.

When I bought my own house, I decided to put up a wrought iron garden gate. I lived in a very safe neighborhood, and my neighbors were very open and friendly people, but nonetheless, having that gate up help me mark the space as my own. Behind the wrought iron garden gate, I created a sanctuary. I had a pond, a fountain, a small hummingbird garden, and a bench where I could sit by myself and read for hours. Although I was not far removed from any of my neighbors, it felt almost like being in the middle of a wilderness. It allowed me to make that space my own, a place where I could recharge and forget the troubles of the world.

Of course, picking out the right wrought iron garden gate can be a pretty difficult task. I know it was for me. The problem is that iron fencing never looks the same in the store as it does once it is at your house. It is almost impossible to look at a single segment of wrought iron fencing and understand what it will look like spread out surrounding your entire garden. My advice to anyone picking out a wrought iron garden gate is to keep it simple. No one ever regretted buying something with a clean, uncluttered design!