Does it look like Barbie's beach cabana on your deck behind the huge and pretty nice Colonial? With almost no neighbors to point and snicker and accuse you of single-handedly lowering property values, I'd search the Garden Junk forum and get some tips on mosaicing a plaque proudly proclaiming "less than $200!" Well, the plaque would be the tacky part, the gazebo is, at least, functional. Go back to Target, get some deck furniture with wild foliage fabric cushions, and sit in relatively bug free comfort with a favorite beverage. :-)

I can't say that I'm the biggest fan of such "gazebos," but it's generally in part of questionable construction, not overall style. I would say that if it works for you, it's fine. It sounds like you've solved your design problem well within an agreeable budget, so I don't see any issue. It may not be the actual gazebo which is poor in taste (in the other one you saw), but its context.

- Audric

You can buy a really nice pergola kit from Shade Tree for $13,000. Me personally, until I can afford to build the stone and cedar screenhouse I've designed I plan on picking up a screen thingy like yours. Bugs suck, and so does the economy right now.

Can you live with it? Does it do what you bought it for? Does it fit the budget? Are your most comfortable pants the ones you look best in?

This is Danni again. I agree, the real deal (wood) would be ideal and one of our earlier homes in another city had a deceptively simple way to treat the space that included some filtered light (2 x 4's on their edge) and some solid, but clear materials-- so you could push your outdoor furnishings to that side during a rain shower. Sounds weird, but it looked great and worked wonderfully. I am not a form-over-function person, obviously. BUT- I am still waiting for my husband to build me the futon he promised me in college. (Hint, I have been out of college almost 20 years.) So, short of hiring an 'outsider' which is largely verboten... I have to build it myself.

It usually doesn't have the screen on, unless we are having yellow jacket problems. And that comfortable pants thing made me laught aloud... um, no. They make me look 25 pounds fatter and possibly, part gnome. (Linen overalls from Columbia Sportswear- for garden use ONLY.)

It is furnished pretty well and all that, we moved furniture out there for the summer (cute painted buffets and tables) I thought, up until this week, that it was fine. Maybe too easy, but whimsical and functional. The good news is I am also a plant FREAK, so no one can really see the thing for a lack of visual airspace in the yard. And we already broke the most important rule: Thou shall not have a trampoline in a snooty area : ) But since I wasn't inundated with cries of disgust from the Style Police; I will let it live another summer.

I think the take-home messages might be these: that it's good you've noticed the relative tackiness of so many mass-produced/imported garden and home products that are readily available; that they are relatively inexpensive and don't require much labor by the homeowner--that's why they're so popular--and the alternative is either custom-build or higher-end "kit"; that such a product can still work well. That it might be a drawback in selling a home, but not necessarily for you while you are living there, so you can change that later if you need to.

It might also help focus you on what you like and don't like. For example, it lets you see how you like the change in lighting and temperature created by this structure next to your house; did you only need the screen/shade function, or did you want a 4 season room; do you have trees growing that will eventually shade the area and you won't need the structure eventually--stuff like that. Meaning, if you WERE to build something, or even buy something "grander", how would you want it to be like, or different from, your Target thingy?

Relative cost and delayed gratification is a common struggle for homeowners--in this case, the $200 does not appear to be holding you back were you to decide to upgrade to something else, and it's very functional for you right now; whereas, to me a common mistake is for someone to spend $500 one year for an improvement that's tacky, when $1000 would have resulted in a super look--for that, one might try to learn to save up and wait.

It's also a marketing thing in which so many "things" are waved in our faces; we could afford to have one or 2 really good items or designed and built in a marvelous way, but if we want a dozen or more items--a water feature, a screen house, a patio, lots of outdoor furniture, multiple walkways, a fence, a hedge, etc, etc,--and want them all NOW, then each one will have to be the cheapest possible.

And then there is the problem that so little $$ and effort is put into the outdoor features in the construction of most homes--all the things that you really need to enjoy your yard --and we buy as much "house" as we can and then only later try to think about the outside.

Well, that last was a rant...

You might also try to avoid continually buying the next best screen thingy--at some point, they may all share certain "temporary", or even tacky, features and a more costly one might not really be worth the extra $$, not to mention sending the first to the landfill (unless you can find a buyer).

So just enjoy your current product, and give some thought to whether you might eventually want to have some much more permanent, classic structure built, or whether there's something else you need more.

If the Style Police want me to do ANYTHING their way, I'll say "fine - as long as you're willing to pay the mortgage here."

Frankie, you are definitely a true Capricorn. Loved your well constructed post.

Danni - enjoy your shade. Until I build a pergola, my only available shade comes from sitting in the garage looking at a very unlovely house across from me - until about 5 p.m. when we can scootch up against the house on the patio and enjoy the gardens.

Rosie in Sugar Hill, GA

Actually Frankie, we were the other way around. The house was a thrill-less shoebox. I may be the only person on Earth who actually said to the seller *when asked how I liked the house* that "I would have bought your house if it was filled with toxic waste, because I *want* this yard". I was trying to express my love for her yard, but it came out all wrong, but I was 8 months pregnant and was sick to death of nasty, stingy little lots, ill-placed and without trees of any size. I was so filled with wonder that this house, that yard and the incredible location was under our shopping range (which is why it hadn't come up in our searches) that I wasn't thinking clearly.

My spouse is a fussy guy, by nature and profession. So, one cannot just say, "I want to replace this deck with stamped concrete and pavers and then a wooden shelter that we can use all four seasons, with power and lighting." Because it requires "A PLAN", a vision, and he can't stop at the edge of the project. Next thing you know, he wants to move the hot tub (OKAY! we didn't buy it! It was there when we bought it and NO ONE can see it... oh god. We have a trampoline, a gazebo AND a hot tub... we are tacky. And a huge cedar play structure... and a cedar bunkhouse/potting shed... but we also have three very happy kids who never watch tv or say they are bored) anyhoo, self awarenss fading again, the project tends to expand past all reason once I bring my spouse into it. That is what is stopping me from doing the 'right' thing. And, back to the original premise... I hate to spend $10k in this economy when $200 is doing the job, well, and is easily removed after September and light can flood the living room again.

And I mean it when I say you can't see these things from the perimeter of the property. My husband calls my style "Jungle Chic", huge plants and trees everywhere. Thanks for all of your feedback!