Courtyard Garden - Shade Sail Design

We are currently working on our courtyard garden design ....

The front of our house and courtyard gets full sun from late morning until sunset and is completely open to the elements. So we are looking for a solution which provides some shade and shelter to make it an appealing outdoor area we can spend time in.

For shade we considered a patio or awning but that would be expensive and require our local council's approval .....  I suggested the cheaper option of big outdoor umbrellas but Mr P wasn't too keen on the idea as it would only cover a small area and not be secure enough in strong winds and wild weather ...... So then we decided a shade sail would be a good option.

You can buy shade sails off the shelf from places like Bunnings but they didn't have a size big enough to cover the area we want to shade.

So we decided to have the shade sail custom made and found a local supplier Big Fat Snapper who was recommended to us. We visited his workshop with our courtyard plan and measurements and explained where we wanted the shade to be - it's quite an art working out the shape, height and size of the sail to provide the shade you need.

After much deliberation we came up with this design .....

The shade cloth is made from a canvas material and gives all weather protection.

It comes in a variety of colours - we picked a charcoal colour so it matches the roof of our house.

We need 5 metal posts for each point of the sail that it will attach to - the posts come in bare metal and we will have them powder coated and painted in a cream colour to match the limestone walls of the courtyard and the rendered walls of the house so that hopefully they blend in with the surroundings.

The metal posts need to be dug into the ground and secured with concrete footings. The shade sails are then anchored to the posts. The posts will be positioned next to the limestone brick pillars of the courtyard and they will all lead to a corner post located at the corner of the house.

We tied ribbon to each of the limestone pillars to visualize how the shade sail will look from the outside (along the driveway and the road) and also how it would feel when you're underneath it (both for standing height and to get a feel for how much space it will cover).

We had the option of two shade sails which I think looks really artistic and modern but I feel it would close in the space and cover the front of the house too much, we would need more poles for this as well, and the extra shade cloth, so it would be more expensive.

So we decided on just the one shade sail which I think will do the job well and look great.

We have ordered the metal posts and sent them off for painting so when we get them we need to dig some holes and then secure the posts into concrete footings.

Once the posts are in we'll do a final measure for the shade sail so it can be custom made for the space.

Once the shade sail is in we can start work on the paving, grass and garden areas .... the courtyard garden is just a few months away!

What kind of shade or shelter do you have in your outside area?

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