If you remove a bulb and the rest of the string still works, then it's wired with all the bulbs in parallel and should work even if cut shorter. (I'm assuming they're not LEDs, in which case I wouldn't know enough about them to say much.) Of course, you'd have to find some way to safely insulate the cut ends so they don't short to each other and can't be touched accidentally by someone who handles them. It's definitely an at-your-own-risk sort of modification.

I found my octagonal umbrella at the swap shop at the dump. It lasted about 15 years for me! Unfortunately, when I pulled it out of the basement this spring, mice had dated away at the top of it, so I've had to buy a new one. It was an aluminum crank umbrella with a valance. Valance umbrellas are hard to find now, but I love them, and fortunately I mentioned my disappointment to the owner of the store I was buying the new umbrella from, and he looked in his book, and lo and behold, in the Commercial section, they have them! So I've got a 9 foot, octagonal umbrella with a valance coming. What I do, though, is drill a hole in the umbrella pole JUST where the pole meets the underside of the table, and then I put a pin of some kind through that hole. Umbrella cannot be lifted out of the stand/table that way. I have it over a rectangle table, and it's fine. Cyn, last year I bought this type of light for my dining table umbrella. It's really nice when it's on, and it's chargeable, so no electrical cord. You just snap it on. If you want to lower the canopy, you have to take it off.

I haven't used the tilt feature very often but my umbrella is in a table so there isn't much need to tilt it. But if it were standalone then I think it would be more useful. My umbrella has a powder coated metal pole so I don't have to worry about rust,etc. I don't know if a wood pole would be prone to cracking but that's what I would worry about. I'm on my 2nd umbrella and here's what I learned from the first one. Of all the things to consider I never thought about the fabric. Unfortunately that's what ended up biting me in the end. Unless it's Sunbrella or something just like it the color is going to fade badly in the sun. I noticed a neighbor's awning faded from a lovely eggplant shade of purple to lilac. Not pretty. My first umbrella was a very colorful floral but after only a couple seasons under the hot California sun the colors were gone with only an imprint left in a most unattractive pukey yellow. How red and green can fade out to muddy mustard is a mystery to me. But it was so ugly I couldn't stand looking at it, even if the mechanics were still in good working order. I replaced it with a new umbrella. This time my #1 criteria was that it be made with SUNBRELLA fabric. It's been about 4 years now and the blue is still the same beautiful shade of sky blue it was when I bought it. The brand is called "Treasure Garden". I bought it at a patio store, can't remember how much I paid for it though. I couldn't be happier with the quality. Oh, the split fabric is very good to have if the umbrella is left open in windy weather. Both my umbrellas had the crank which I like.

I would also love to see bigger planters, but they are expensive and not currently in the budget. I'm planning on large heavy concrete planters where the dinky ones are now, and also near the steps to give a little extra stabilization to people who need it entering and exiting. We've always worked with what we had as a proof of concept until we're ready to tackle the permanent solution, hence the little ones for the time being. I can easily move them as I determine where I want the permanent ones, and how many I want. I think the hubby would kill me if I tried to paint his new patio cover. I might need to give him a few years before attempting that. It's alumawood, so not sure how well painting would work. I'm filing that away for future reference though. We had a local grocery store who painted their ceilings a sky blue, even all the exposed pipes and what not and it really was a nice feeling. They even added a few cutout clouds, it was a really cute design. Summers here are regularly over 100, so every bit of cool helps. I found an amazing umbrella at World Market, but when I went to go buy it today they're now out of stock. Here's hoping they find some more. You guys are amazingly helpful, thank you so much!