Patio and lower deck help please

last year

Hello. I am requesting advice on making my outdoor space more appealing and useful. We get full sun and I considered having a canvas awning installed over the upper deck area. To keep the costs down, I wondered if it would look okay if the awning was installed over the patio door and window to the left only. I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Any other ideas on how to add more curb appeal to this space would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Featured Answer

jck910

last year

Yes it will look ok. We have ours on just one side of the deck. Although the deck looks shaded, it usually isn't. It's the south side. This picture was late in the day.

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Comments (7)

Andy Kingston
Original Author
last year
@jck910 Your deck looks lovely!
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ShadyWillowFarm
last year
Lovely home, but I am not wild about the deck color with the brick. An awning would be nice, and won’t darken the interior when it is retracted. For the lower level, an area rug and some seating would look good. Why is there moisture down there on the left side of the photo?
Andy Kingston thanked ShadyWillowFarm
Andy Kingston
Original Author
last year
@ShadyWillowFarm This is a condo/townhouse complex and therefore we are tied to the finishes chosen by the condo board. The upper deck is not a solid floor and the rain/snow seeps down to the lower patio.
emily9972
last year
A word about awnings. Pay attention to where the sun is throughout the day. We installed an awning hoping/assuming it would create nice shade on our western facing deck. Silly us! This picture was taken July 7 at 7pm. The deck is still in full sun and hotter than heck. Plus underneath the awning is even hotter. There is a crank pull-down vertical shade but the awning really traps the heat. It does keep the sun off the kitchen all afternoon which is a good thing. But before you go the expense of an awning make sure you understand how much shade you will get and when.

If your house is southern facing, it'll probably work well. With the western setting sun, the shade just retreats up the house. We sized the awning to fit between the rhododendron and a potential mudroom addition where the stairs are. Someday I may have to start a thread about that!
Andy Kingston thanked emily9972
Andy Kingston
Original Author
last year
@emily9972 Thanks for the insight Emily! Your advice is very much appeciated! Your backyard does look very nice.
Jennifer Hogan
last year
I would concentrate on furniture and plants.

this article has a bunch of before and after, most of which were simply adding a carpet, nice colorful furniture, vases and plants.

You can add outdoor wall art and use an umbrella over the table.

If your not great with plants you can add color with just big vases or other outdoor décor or get some fake flowers. I bought these for my patio where a real plant wouldn't have gotten enough light to flower. They add the pop of color and look real until winter hits and they are still blooming.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EM7HUB8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1