DIY Sun Shade

Terry came up with this idea for our latest garden project. I'll let him tell you how we went about doing it.

We recently decided to put a retractable sun shade over our garden patio and two swings to provide some mid-day shade. The challenge was we also needed to be able to retract and secure it when we wanted to build a fire in our fire pit or if there was going to be severe weather or wind. We used 3 copper clad 8 foot long ground rods (the types electricians use to drive in the ground) as “curtain rods” over the top of the arbor secured with copper pipe hangers. We used a 9 foot by 12 foot canvas painters tarp we got at Lowes for the shade and clip-on curtain hangers to hang the tarp on the curtain rods. Provides great shade during the mid-day sun. Turned out pretty good but we’ll be working on improving how we retract, close and secure it this weekend. Then it will be done – check out the pictures! These pictures were taken late in the day so the patio wasn’t shaded.