Patio Cover

So we thought long and hard about getting Maria a new car. Couldn't find something we liked in a price we could afford. So we decided to wait awhile on that, and instead invested in a new patio cover. What an amazing difference it has had on our outdoor activities. We're still settling into it and getting used to it, but it's been wonderful. Here are some photos taken during the build process.
They worked quickly. This is the end of the first day. They had the posts in, and the covered area up. It was supposed to be a two day job, but with all the curves we had, it took them 3 days.
These are the support brackets mounted to the house, over the master bedroom area This is to support the area where we have lattice. The cover, which extends the full length of the back of our house, is a mix of solid area and lattice. This allows us to have full shade and dry area in winter, along with a lighter area if necessary.

This is the covered area, they are putting lattice on the outer edge, to allow it to match the curvature of our cement.
Here they are laying the support beams for the lattice.


Maria liked the look of the round columns over the support structures. It flows with the Tuscan style we have created. She debated on some Greek columns, but decided it didn't really fit the theme we were looking for.
Mod of the solid area. Note the beams are NOT in a straight line. Several companies that gave us a bid, wanted us to have them be straight across the patio to make the build easier. that would have clashed with the curves we have in the yard as well as cut down on our patio space with poles in the middle.
Here they are adding in section of the solid area. It extends past the kitchen door, so we can walk outside from the kitchen to the BBQ in the winter.
You can see the lattice going up. It's two inch beams with a two inch space between them.
Here's a view of the pool from under the patio. It's hard to really get a feel for the size and scope of this from the photos. In future photos, you'll see we've since added in two outdoor ceiling fans with lights and we're stringing several strands of the little white Christmas tree type lights around the edge. These little lights give a nice ambient mood lighting to the patio, where the ceiling fan lights make it almost too bright out there. Next major project for the backyard is a built in BBQ. Might be another year or two before we get to that, but I'm excited about it. Maria is looking forward to the full set of outdoor patio furniture, with a couch and rug etc.

Stay cool everyone and come join us for a swim on one of these hot hot hot summer days.