The friendliest garden gate? It has wooden pickets and is sturdy enough for a child to swing on. Extra points if it’s waist-high (36 inches) so you can gossip with passersby.
Picket gates and fences are among the simplest to construct, with evenly spaced vertical pales supported by horizontal rails. Yet picket garden gates come in a dizzying range of styles, from modern to grandma’s garden. Choose the shape of the boards (pointed, rounded, dog ear, Gothic), post sizes and designs (flat, coved, chamfered), and decorative post caps and finials (rounded, pointed, flat).
A small variation in design can make a big style statement when it comes to picket garden gates. To illustrate, we’ve rounded up 10 affordable options:
Rounded Pickets

Cambridge-Style Pickets

Victorian-Style Pickets

Pointed Pickets

A-Frame Braces

Dome Pickets

Flat Top or Arched Pickets

Cottage Pickets

Wide Pickets

Flat Pickets

Read more tips in our design guide to Gates & Fences 101 in our Hardscaping 101 sections. See more:
- 12 Old-Fashioned Hardware Store Finds That Will Save You Money
- Get the Look: The English Garden Gate, 10 Ways
- Hardscaping 101: Picket Fence
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