I Made Shade!

Our back deck was unlivable in the summer because of the hot sun. We have trees at the back of our yard, but none close enough to the house to provide any shade. I have spent three summers here unable to sit outside during the day because of the hot sun. I decided this year was going to be different! So, I went to work (with some help from my husband) to create shade. Here are the results:


We had an old gazebo down in the yard. It used to have a roof, but it was blown off during a storm last winter. We moved it up to the deck and reassembled it there. We put a canvas top on it. I hung some flower baskets to bring some greenery closer to the deck.


We bought outdoor drapes which I hung on the west side to keep the sun out in the afternoon. Also, I bought a little table to use with the umbrella we were storing in the basement.


The "Yeager" sign used to hang on the wall of an old family cabin on a lake in Michigan. It helps us to pretend we are looking out over a lake as we enjoy the new-found shade on our back deck. Now, if we just had a loon calling to us in the distance!