That is one beautiful pergola. Definitely shows you have a great sense of design.

It would be nice to have some solar lights in there since you have a lot of sun.

I don't have a pergola. My entire garden is shaded by huge trees.

dcarch

That looks very nice. I like the little curve that you gave the roof. dcarch, we tried solar yard lights - the ones we bought were very unsatisfactory - they put out almost no light.

We do most of the cooking for outside meals in our kitchen which is right next to the back yard. The only outdoor cooking facility we have is the BBQ which we use even when we are eating inside. Ours is built in with a charcoal grill and a gas grill (which I have to admit gets the most use since it's so easy).

Eating outside doesn't take much - you already have a table and some chairs. We have a few of outdoor tables. For a party we will also set up a card table. When we only had one outdoor table, we would put a big piece of plywood on a couple of saw horses and cover it with a table cloth for an additional table.

There are a few other things we have that enhance eating outside, especially in the fall or spring. One is a portable fire pit. Ours is made by Weber, but there are a number of brands. I prefer that to a built in one because when we aren't using it it is out of the way. It extends the time you can comfortably sit outside as the weather gets cooler. Ours has a cover that sits on a frame above the fire to keep sparks contained. When done for the evening, we can take out the frame and put the cover directly on the base to extinguish the fire - no worry about having to supervise it until it goes out.

We also have candle lanterns - they shield a candle from the wind so that we can dine by candle light outside. If you google candle lantern images, you'll see the type of thing I'm talking about.

I think it's nice that your garden is shaded by trees - my trees aren't that big or shady. I guess I would have to have solar panels in the roof to get solar lights, but I didn't think of that at the time. Solar panels are expensive, but they could possibly do other chores in the back yard.

Lars

Cloud_Swift, we had a fire pit in the yard when we bought the house, and it was one of the first things to go - we never used it and never needed it. On one of the rare days that it might be below 60 degrees in the evening, we will decide to stay indoors. Sunshine is our enemy - not the cold! The pergola is built exactly over where the old fire pit was. The previous owners must have used it because they left us an empty fire extinguisher. We had our own better one anyway, and so we didn't need it, but theirs got plenty of use.

We have an outdoor bar and a bar-height table that we use for prep outside plus two charcoal Webers. We have an old gas grill that we never use but keep on hand in case of power outage. I would rather cook inside than outside on a gas grill, although today it did get a bit warm in the kitchen. If I had a built-in gas grill outside, it would be a different matter. Since I cannot make the house larger, I thought it would be a good idea to expand the living areas outside, and this is working well so far. I'm anxious to see how other people are expanding their living spaces into the back yards.

Lars

Too cold here for much cooking outside except in the short summer months. Just wanted to say that I think your pergola is really lovely.

I'm sure you've thought of planting a few trees for shade Lars. In your climate, with some irrigation, they would grow fast. That's the first thing I did to my yard when I bought the place, planted three trees. It is now six years later and it is really starting to pay off. In fact, I cut one down this year because the yard was getting too shady! And it was competing with my Japanese maple which grew WAY faster than I thought it would. In your case, I'm sure citrus fruit trees would be a joy. I know you said you had plans to maybe plant one? Not sure about other species. Drought tolerant obviously. And you can grow all those wonderful fragrant things. I love a little back door herb garden, it's so fun to go out and snip up something yummy.

We are eating outside a lot, but BF is hyper sensitive about noise or anything else going on, and in my row house neighborhood, there is often a lot going on. Luckily for me, on one side of me is a young couple that are basically hermits. They both have allergies so are almost never seen outside their house. But on the other side is a big family with grown kids, aunts, cousins, uncles, friends, grandkids over a lot of the time. Does not bother me at all, they aren't hooting it up at all hours of the night, but it bothers BF and my mom too when she visits. It's funny, because both me and my dad like these people a lot and are always yaaking it up with them over the fence. We like the family atmosphere. Again, they're not out there all the time anyway, so to me it is fine. Also, my neighbor is a big gardener and tolerates my escapees into her yard. Every once and a while I have to go over there and weed out my mint or some other spreading thing. On the other side, they never see anything going on anyway! Two doors down is a woman with one of the loudest voices on the planet! And they keep their dog tied up on their deck for hours with just a leash length, and the poor thing barks and whines and it makes me furious! It has water and can go under their patio table for shade, but it just doesn't seem right to me. They put in a big fence for their two kids, but seem to be OK with leaving the area in front of the fence all torn up with a big pile of dirt eroding into the alley. They are not obsessive yard maintainers, that's for sure. But the rest of the neighborhood looks pretty good, there are some serious gardeners along the row, so I feel right at home.

Right now I'm in the process of putting together a small fountain. I really, really want to have one in the yard. It's going to be in the middle, between the eating area and this little sitting area I am trying to design right now. I love to go out at night when it finally cools off and sit in my patio swing. I have patio lights and I really enjoy them. I call them my "fairy lights" and actually it would be cool to have some lanterns that had a fairy design. My dream is to put a solar panel on the roof and run the patio lights and garage door opener off of it. Would make more sense than those solar lights. Even in sunny climates, most people want to put those lights in places that get too much shade to generate much juice. On top of my garage roof is southern exposure and sun, sun, sun. But that costs too much, it would just be an extra if we ever become financially secure, which is somewhat doubtful! In the meantime, I have a "solar" clothes dryer to put up.

Ideas for outdoor use:

1. Those little cheap solar lights are not very bright. They are mostly good for decorative use.

2. You need a solar panel capable of may be 10 watts/12v ($50.00) to charge up a car battery to power up LED flood lights or fluorescent lights, electric fan, music, TV, etc. Running outdoor electricity can cost you a couple of thousand dollars.

3. Solar fountain actually works. See link below.

4. A propane or electric infrared heater works well on those cool evenings or mornings.

5. Lpink, idea for your garage door opener: A solar panel 10 watts/12v ($50.00) on the roof to charge up an old car battery ($0.00). A 400 watt inverter ($30.00) to convert the car battery to 110vac. You now can operate your garage door opener without running electricity from your house.

dcarch

Here is a link that might be useful: solar fountain

I'm thinking of getting a fountain from Reseda Pottery, but they have so many to choose from that it is difficult to make a decision. I've been to their store a couple of times already. I plan to look at Italian fountains in Sacramento when I go there in September. A lot of those are too big for my back yard, however. Then I might have to decide whether I want an Italian fountain or a trip to Italy. The fountain would last longer, and it's what I really want. Since I want to put a fountain there, I will not have room for shade trees. I'm going to try some more papaya trees, but they put out very little shade, and I need male and female trees to get fruit, which I definitely want. I had an androgynous papaya tree in Venice, but the fruit was not that good. I have a white zapote tree in the yard that will eventually make shade, and I replaced the ornamental peach tree I had with banana trees and lobster claw heliconia. I'm not sure if my mamey tree will make it, but it appears to be trying. Anything that I plant will either have to make fruit that I like or else spectacular flowers. I already have Meyer lemon, Bearss lime, and some sort of orange tree, but the orange tree is too small still to make fruit. I had to buy the lemon and lime trees, and I have them in very large wine barrel planters so that they can grow in the cement patio area across from the hot tub. I'm afraid to plant them in the ground, in case I have the wrong type of soil.

My neighbors are pretty quiet where I am now, but we had noisy ones in Venice who had all night parties every other week-end, it seemed. They invited us to the parties, and I sometimes went, but Kevin's room was closer to the action than mine was. It looks like the house behind me now is starting to do some renovation, but I can't tell much yet. I heard them yesterday at lunch. In Venice I had a substantial goldfish pond, and the waterfall made a wonderful sound, but there was a fair amount of maintenance to it. I was able to grow fragrant tropical waterlillies, however, and I miss those.

Lars

That's one gorgeous pergola and a fine eating area.

I wish I had pictures to show but when we do eat outside it is always on our screened in porch because of the mosquitoes.

I love lanterns with flameless candles (remote controlled) and lots of flowering containers for ambiance.

Thanks for the compliments on the pergola, but I'm not even sure that it is my style. Yesterday when I was sitting in it, I felt like I was in a German beer garden (there are a lot of those in Texas). I'm going for more of an Italian/Mediterranean style, but I didn't want to build a Greek temple in the back yard because I wanted it to be cedar and a bit rustic so that upkeep would be minimal. Kevin said it was okay to mix styles, and so I guess that's what I'm going to have to do. I think when I get potted plants around and flowers, it will change the look. My epidendrums have been growing like crazy, and they don't seem to mind excessive sun, and so I might repot some of those and spread them around more. They seem to bloom almost all year. I definitely want to get some lanterns - thanks for that suggestion. I would like to get the pergola hard wired at some point, but I'm not sure what kind of light I want - definitely enough for dining. I suppose I could put my camping lantern in the middle of the table for now.

BTW, I did have a clothesline in Venice as well, which I used because I had an electric dryer that used tons of electricity. Now I have a gas dryer, and my gas bill is still low. There was an ugly asphalt driveway in my back yard in Venice, but I don't have that problem now, and so the aesthetics are better.

Lars

Lars, what you need is a wood fired bread/pizza oven, yeah, that'd give you the Mediterranean feel. OK, I confess, that's what I really want, but I could see you using one!

I thought I posted here, but I must have posted over int eh gallery section. The pergola is beautiful. I have a pool and a deck, but no shade at all, I keep threatening to put some type of awning over my deck so I can sit in the shade and watch the kids play in the pool.

Somehow I just haven't gotten to it yet, though.

Annie

Maybe you did post on the other side - I haven't looked there lately, although I do have a bit of spare time today at work.

You are right that I would love a wood fired pizza oven, but I'm not sure I have enough room left over for it! I could probably put it where we have the outdoor bar, which we have not really used yet, although it looks nice, and I sit at it at times. We just haven't had a party since Kevin bought it. If I had a deck, I would probably put an awning over it - something that I could retract if I wanted to. I got a slight sunburn last week-end, but it's really minor considering that I forgot to wear sunscreen. I did wear a large hat, however. If I had a wood fired oven, I could also make naan. I have a book with instructions on how to build one!

When I update the plans to the yard, I will post them to show how the space is laid out. When I originally drew the yard plan, I was a few inches off, as I was concentrating mainly on the house floor plan.

Lars

Long time lurker here and because I'm not the best of cooks (nor do I really like to cook all that much) I rarely post. But wanted to make another suggestion for your lovely pergola and am surprised no one has mentioned it already (that I've seen anyway).

Have you considered curtains? That was my thought when you first posted. It looks like you would only need them on two sides. They can be opened and closed and really do give the space more of a 'room' feel, if that makes sense.

We live just south of Sacramento and the back of our home faces West. The summer sun is brutal here (we're usually 5-7 degrees hotter than Sacramento) and even the awning over that part of the back patio, which leads into our family room, doesn't help at all. We have a really nice set of patio furniture (love seat, chairs, etc.) that we couldn't enjoy in the afternoons during the hot months, which is my favorite time of the year. I got this bright idea to hang curtains years ago and love it.

I priced outdoor curtains and sail cloth and due to a very limited budget decided to just get some cheap curtains from WalMart that matched the main color of the seating cushions. The sun has faded them on one side but I don't care cuz I don't see it unless I'm out in one of the gardens. I don't think this would work for you due to the wide spaces but I actually have bathroom tension rods holding the curtains up. I spray painted them the color of the curtains and you can't see them. But I know that there's wire thingies and contraptions that can be used but I've only seen those in pictures. I'm sure others can give you suggestions for that.

During the afternoon I close up the curtains and once the sun is off that area, which is usually early evening, I open them up again by tieing them to the posts. I have tons of potted plants throughout that area (ornamental bananas, elephant ears, cannas, spider plants, a couple small palms , and brugmansias, as well as a small water fountain. I took some cheap round plastic side tables and spray painted them red for drinks or whatevers. The coffee table out there rarely gets used for anything other than holding plants. I also have solar lights stuck in alot of the pots which provides alot of ambiance at night. Not bright enough to comfortably read by, but then I don't read at night out there. On the other hand, I have alot of them out there as well as in my garden (my husband says our back yard probably looks like a landing strip from the sky at night).

I absolutely love that area. When it's really hot, like it's going to be in a couple days, I spray down the curtains and the rug (a cheapie $19 rug from WM) and it also helps to drop the temp in my little outside 'room'. I can't tell you how much time I spend out there, even during extreme heat.

When the cold weather arrives I take the curtains down, dust off the rods and wash the curtains and put them away until the following Spring.

Hope this had given you some other options to think about. I know you're going to love spending time out there.

Jenna

Thanks, Jenna - your ideas are great! You did read my mind about the curtains, however, and I do plan to make my own curtains with Sunbrella fabric, which I think I can get here at work - a perk from being in the furniture industry. You are right that I would only need them on two sides - the sides that are next to the vine covered walls. That corner points swest, and so one side is SW and the other is NW, as my house is at a 45 degree angle from N/S. I was going to install some hooks at the eaves and then install grommets in the fabric for hanging the curtains. They would not pull that way, and so they would either be up or not up. Or I could make a Roman shade, but I don't want to get that fussy. The afternoon sun really comes in the western side of the pergola. I'm less concerned in the morning because we tend not to use it before noon.

We don't have extreme heat where I live, as we are only a couple of miles from the ocean and get sea breezes during the summer afternoons. The Santa Ana Winds (from the other direction) keep us from getting cold in the winter, and so our yard stays around room temperature all year, mainly from 65 to 75 degrees in the afternoons most of the time. That's why I consider it so important to have an outdoor room - we spend a lot of time outside all year, and this is the easiest way to expand our living space.

I would love to see pictures of your yard in Sacramento. I have a very good friend who lives there and who visits me once a year to help me with landscaping. He used to live with me in Venice until my brother came from Texas.

I like your idea of putting solar lights in the potted plants! I'm going to have to give that a try, once I get them placed again. Thanks again for your suggestions.

Lars

Lars, I love your pergola! Had we stayed in our previous house we would have built one there. I think once you get it accessorized it will feel very Mediterranean! I like the idea of curtains to keep out the hot sun. I'd like to do that on my front porch that faces South.

I would love to see photos of everyone's outdoor dining/entertaining areas, too! Jenna, please share some photos of yours if you can.

I really liked seeing Teresa's back yard in a previous post.

We just finished our new patio, firepit and deck. We had a landscaper do the patio and firepit, and we built the deck. Since you asked, here are some photos. These were taken hours after the deck was completed, so as you can see we have our work cut out for us! There will be a lot of perennials and shrubs going in over the next couple of summers.

We bought new furniture for the deck on Sunday, and will be getting a new grill this weekend, I hope. I have my work cut out for me with all the landscaping and garden work I need to do to get it in shape, but we'll be cooking outside again in no time! We've already had several fires and had the neighbors over. I love it!

Linda

Your outdoor area is very beautiful and inviting, Linda. It reminds me of a lodge out in the woods. It's nice also that you cannot see the neighbors. It looks like a great place for entertaining and having parties. I've always also wanted a balcony. I sort of had one in Houston in one house where I lived, but it was completely glassed in.

I looks like you are on a bit of a hill. Please keep us updated when you add flowers and shrubs! Thanks for sharing!!

Lars

Linda, what a beautiful spot you have! It looks so peaceful and inviting.

Lars, I love your pergola. I've wanted to do something like that on my brick patio to block the view from the neighbor.