Wow, we have made our very first grown-up construction purchase, and it is an almost-purely frivolous, perfectly fabulous first purchase to have made! Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you....THE PERGOLA!!! After 8 days of full-time landscaping and building, we have a super-clean yard and a shining palace of a pergola. It has totally transformed the garden and the house. Its golden beams rise into the sky and create a lacy dappling of light on the grass and the side of the house. Our house is on a bit of a rise so from the street the roof of the pergola is visible over the fence and it looks soooo pretty! It is quite substantial, more so than I thought it would be. 8 1/2 feet high, 16 feet long, it frames the narrow side yard perfectly, shading what was a once-scorched lawn, and creating a buffer between us and the busy street. In fact, that is why I wanted it in the first place. For privacy.
I have noticed on renovation shows that most people want a pergola to eat under - its purpose is generally as a "roof" for dining tables and seating, but my first priority was for privacy. We live on a dead end street off of a busy street, and for some reason people seem to think it is a place to 1. party 2. work on their cars 3. park their trucks and idle All of which totally stress me out. I resent being crowded like this by thoughtless neighbors and visitors, and it happens all the time.
So, I wondered what I could possibly do to make it better and thought...let's start by creating some privacy. A pergola would allow us to hang curtains which would make that entire side yard private. It would block the sight of that guy working on his car! Also making that space beautiful and personal sends a message to the neighborhood that we are HERE AND WE CARE. Don't party down here!
We also had a privacy fence built along the top of the garage which has been a godsend. For too long our weird neighbor behind us has been able to look down into our yard, and he spends hours on his porch doing just that. He is also up all night and sitting on his porch, which is totally creepy when I have insomnia and let the dog out at 3am there he is...sitting on his porch in the dark, looking into our yard. Yikes! So the privacy fence has changed all that. I can't even see his porch now, and it is an incredible relief!!! By building the pergola and the privacy fence I feel like I have reclaimed two major spaces in my house/garden/yard that I will use all the time now, without self-consciousness. Hooray!!! I wish I could post a pic of the pergola all decked out in its curtains (it has a beautiful copper curtain rod!) and twinkly lights, but ironically there are NO outdoor curtains for sale in Portland. We looked all weekend, and I finally had to order them online. So stay tuned for primped-out pergola pics later.
xoxoxo DR
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