Pergola Building

When I first bought this house 3 years ago our backyard looked like this. Pretty, right? Over time we added a concrete patio and the grass and then it pretty much has stayed that way.



But I have been dying for a little shade because Nevada gets hot, hot, hot. Last weekend the pergola went up (when it was a fun 97 degrees outside. Ouch). We based it almost exactly on the one my parent built a few years ago with some of their "wish I had done it this way" thoughts added to the design.



Since 2x2 and 2x4 are about the same price we decided to just buy 2x4 and rip them in half to save some money. We don't have a table saw but luckily we know someone who was willing to let us use theirs for a bit.



We got a pretty good system down of taking the boards out of the car, running them through the table saw and putting them right back into the other side.



We decided to go ahead and prime and paint before assembly.



On Sunday I got to see the first side go up. Once we had all of the cuts done it was pretty quick work getting the frame together.



Then starting in Monday morning we got the slats on. Obviously I have some paint touch up to do and more clean up on the patio. I'm thinking some curtains would be nice for the end of it since after about 5:30 the sun gets low enough that the cover doesn't help as much. Our next step will be to build some benches and then see about some bushes and trees for the yard. Can't wait!