It has been hot in San Diego this week, and it has me thinking about good shade options for summer. One of my favorite ways to add shade while still keeping a project feeling light and breezy, is to use canvas. These are called horizontal roman shades, and I like them best in light colors (just like with cars, light colors like cream and white really do look cleaner outdoors, despite what most people assume). Some of them are done on cables so that you can pull them back like curtains if you want sun instead of shade.
The ones here are from:
1) Home Infatuation: their Sombrero Canopy is freestanding and gorgeous. The price tag is around $10K.
2) This local family-owned company, Moran Canvas, is my favorite for custom shades. Their customer service is incredibly good. You have your contractor build you the “frame” (in this case wood beams and stucco columns) and they do the canvas and cables. Their part usually is in the $5K range.
3) This one is the best deal in town. It is from a Flag wholesaler, flagemporium.com! They are less than $1K and are made from super light-weight parachute material, so you don’t need much structure to hold them up. The one in the photo shown here only has four posts and two beams, nothing else! The cables and the canvas do the rest.
© Kate Wiseman 2010. In San Diego? Want your own waterwise landscape design? I’d love to help! Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.
Wiseman, the Principal, has been a San Diego landscape designer
for the past ten years. Find out more at www.sageoutdoordesigns.com
