You’ve probably realised that we’ve been doing an extension on our home. If you haven’t noticed, where have you been? One thing I quickly picked up during this process is that everybody should think about putting extra time and money aside for all the things you didn’t expect to happen, especially when renovating or extending a house.
One of those, for us, was the garden. We had two or three level changes throughout the house which we hadn’t really had to think about before and to cut a long story short we’ve ended up having to pay a bit more attention to the garden than we thought we’d have to.
The garden isn’t 100% finished. I think there’s still quite a bit we need to do to make it exactly how we want it but it is, for now at least, as functional as it can be for the kids to run around in and for us to be able to sit outside and enjoy the last few days/weeks of the summer sun.
I don’t know if you’ll have seen pictures of the garden before but we had this kind of sloping roof veranda which basically gave us this lovely shaded area if anyone needed to retreat from the blazing sun, or if we wanted to chill out and eat our BBQs/late night dinner, without having to take our eyes off the boys if they were running around. Unfortunately, that had to be knocked down because it was bowing and really quite dangerous. However, we’ve decided not to replace it as we actually get a lot of shade where we need it.
So, instead of finding a permanent solution I’ve been thinking of ways we can do something similar that’s temporary but still as effective. The first thing that sprang to mind was a gazebo. I’ve always thought of them as a little piece of fabric on four stilts that get easily carried by the win, and that’s probably how they were 20 years ago, but we’ve come a long way since then.
While I was having a look around I came across all types of garden gazebos from Garden and Camping; I didn’t realise there were so many choices these days. Who knew gazebos had windows? Who knew they could have doors? They’re basically the equivalent of the kids’ wigwam we bought, but for grown-ups.
If you’re going to add a gazebo to your garden, there’s no reason for it to look out of place. I can think of a few good reasons to have one!
- The spend is minimal compared to a permanent solution!
- You can move them around to wherever you need them to be in your back garden.
- If it’s really hot, you can use one to cover the paddling pool/ball pit/other outdoor toys to offer some shade.
- If you’re the camping kind of family, you can take it with you on camping trips because they’re portable and lightweight.
There are so many options that actually adding one to the back garden doesn’t seem like the worst idea in the world. It might be ideal for us; I’ve been particularly conscious of the sun this year, probably because of Milo and worrying that he’s going to get burnt because he’s so pale (poor boy, just like me) so it seems like a small investment to me. Just don’t do what some people do and put it in your front garden. It’s like the cardinal sin and would cement your status as the nosey neighbour who sits outside watching everyone else! Do you have a gazebo in your garden? I’d love to know what you use yours for!
*This is a collaborative post.