Fence Gate Upgrade: Pull Installed

I posted a series of posts last Summer about our new fence that was put in our #newoldbackyard here, here and here.  As part of the fence, we installed four gates.  One all the way in the back to access the ComEd easement that is behind our lot - and potentially to get to the neighbor's yards behind us (which...to date, we've never done!), one on the side closest to our neighbor's playhouse/double trampolines (they have kids the same age as ours, so our thought there was to allow access to the trampoline, playhouse and what-have-you), and two gates on either side of our house where the fence meets the rear/side of our house.  The two gates in back are just four footers and are easy to open/close by kids.  But, the two on the sides of the house are six feet tall and made of the board-on-batten-style that the fence (at that part) is made.  That means, the gates are solid and tall.  With really nothing to grab to pull close.  They both open inwards to our yard and have handles on the inside to pull open.  But on the outside - facing the street - they didn't have handles installed.  That was by design.  They're meant to look like a fence.  And not an entrance point.   And not something that screams out 'come enter here' to anybody.

But, practical matters have intervened.  By watching my own kids and their friends, I've now realized that it is tough for them to pull the gate closed when they leave.  They have to get down low and pull the bottom of the gate to get it to latch.  That's not ideal.

So, I've made the first outdoor Spring upgrade.  It is a set of these gate pulls that you see above.  The spacing on the braces on the reverse side of the gates was perfect to accept this pull with the four screws sunk into a 2x4, so it is sturdy and won't be yanked out.

Right now, we're letting the cedar age naturally on the fence despite my natural inclination to seal it.  Nat wants it to go grey, but I think that's based on our last house in Elmhurst where I did a DIY job on the stain.  I used a sprayer and it went on kinda blotchy.  She didn't love that.  So, the solve here is to just do nothing, I guess.  The difference here is that the majority of our fence is picket-style, so getting the stain on all four surfaces of those pickets is a lot of labor.  So, I'm inclined to agree with her and let it age naturally.