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.

Garden Door

This mahogany door used to be our front door for many years. It had been sitting in our garage for the last 3 or 4 years taking up much needed space. We tried selling it and even tried giving it away, but had no takers. I was looking at Pinterest one night and saw some pictures of old doors that people had used in their gardens. I had seen garden gates, but never a garden door. I asked my hubby, Terry if he thought our old door would fit in the opening of our garden arbor. If anyone could make this happen, I knew he could. A couple of weeks later, here is the finished project. Terry built the frame, I painted it and we both hung the door, which was a pain in the butt. Recently we added some solar lights to either side of the door. Thank you to Terry for making my garden door idea a reality. This is the view looking toward our garden.

A view of the door from inside our garden. This is the side of the door that was facing inside our house, so it isn't as weathered as the other side of the door.

Pretty neat, eh?

Garden Project 2013

Every weekend for the past three weeks, we have been working on our garden project. We had a garden fence built, a garden path built and a new stamped concrete pad poured in our fire pit area. Yesterday, Trey, our concrete guy finished sealing the pad. We worked hard and have sore muscles, but it was worth it.

Love, love, love our garden path and new planters. Terry did a great job coming up with the idea. We used the decorative rock from our fire pit area for the path. We had just the right amount of rock.

The stamped concrete pad looks like an old cobblestone street. That's the look we were going for and Trey did a fabulous job!

All those little stalks are what is left of our okra plants. I cut them down close to the ground, then pull the stumps up after we have a good frost. I can't wait for spring 2014!