Summer is an excellent season to spend time outside relaxing and enjoying the company of your family and friends. Still, the sun beating down can make it difficult to relax. Add shade to your deck, porch, or patio to spend time outdoors without the sun’s heat. Here are a few ways to shade outdoor living spaces while enhancing your yard’s overall appearance.
Create Shade for Your Outdoor Living Spaces
Plant Shade Trees
Trees provide shade and increase your property value. When planted strategically, they can help reduce your energy bills as well. Opt for a fast-growing tree like a Northern Red Oak, Red Sunset Maple, Quaking Aspen, or Paper Birch.
The only concern with planting trees for shade is that they take years to grow large enough to provide shade. Their natural beauty makes the wait worth it, but in the meantime, consider some of the other options below to shade your outdoor living spaces.
Build a Pergola
A pergola offers partial shade due to its open overhead design. To create a fully shaded area to relax out of the heat, install fabrics or vining plants to provide more shelter.
Pergolas are attractive and can be a do-it-yourself project with kits available at a local home improvement store. Alternatively, if you believe a pergola project is too complicated for your skill set, hire a contractor to build one in your landscaping.
Shade Outdoor Living Spaces with a Patio Umbrella
A patio umbrella is an easy and inexpensive way to provide shade to outdoor spaces. Umbrellas are a great option to add additional shade quickly. You can opt for a weighted umbrella base that will permit the use of the patio umbrella anywhere. Alternatively, your outdoor table may have a hole in the middle to support a patio umbrella. Umbrellas are available in colors to match your outdoor decor and fold up for easy storage.
Install Outdoor Curtains
Another simple way to shade your outdoor living spaces quickly and without breaking the bank is with outdoor curtains. Install curtains on one side of the deck or inside the gazebo. They offer protection from the sun and help to block insects from your outdoor space. Open or close the curtains to manage shade and provide sufficient air circulation. Outdoor curtains are weather and UV-resistant and work great with a pergola. Choose lightweight sheers in the summer or hang heavier canvas curtains in winter.
Coastline Home Inspection offers inspections in the Hampton Roads area. Contact us to schedule an appointment if you’re buying or selling a home.