Innovative Ideas for Enhancing Your Space with Shade Canopies

If you envision your outdoor space as a place of choice to relax, host friends, eat dinner, or enjoy nature no matter the weather, there is one product you can’t dismiss as you plan your DIY dream yard.

You can easily enhance and maximize your outdoor retreat simply by installing shade canopies. They’re the perfect final touch for your landscape design, and create a customizable shady or sunny outdoor space! We’ve put together a few innovative ideas that are sure to strike your creative fancy for your ultimate outdoor retreat.

5 Creative DIY Outdoor Space Ideas Using Shade Canopies for Alfresco Dining, Hosting, or Relaxing

1. Hammock Heaven Awaits You

Love relaxing on a hammock, but hate being subject to fickle weather? Set up a hammock heaven with free-standing hammocks on a patio or deck and shelter the space using natural light patio covers. Add some pillows and blankets, climb into your hammock, and enjoy the softly lit atmosphere beneath the maintenance-free patio cover. Stay dry in the rain and protected from harmful UV rays while you ‘mock.

2. Deck Dining in Any Weather

Invite friends and family over for alfresco dining in your backyard, whether rain or shine – even snow if you’re brave enough! Installing a louvered roof system provides year-round coverage on your deck or patio dining space, allowing you to host a barbecue night in any weather. A louvered roof system structure can be designed with different colors, custom posts, built-in gutters, and the potential for adding heating or cooling systems. Your dining room space just got a whole lot bigger and more versatile by adding a shade canopy!

3. Grow a Snacking Garden

If you love gardening but can’t hack the chore of keeping up with it, consider growing your own micro garden that’s perfect for healthy snacking. With just a few tomato, pepper, or herbal plants, you can grow a simple micro garden. Once you have your plants, level up your garden into a calming oasis retreat with wind chimes, bird feeders, and comfy seating. Finish off your design with the hideaway pergola kit, so you can sit and enjoy your garden snacks in customizable shade or sun. Be sure to keep your canopy retracted during the day when you’re away so your plants that need sun get plenty.

4. Fall in Love Under the Lights

You don’t have to trek across town to find the perfect romantic atmosphere for a memorable date. Set up your own romantic getaway right in your backyard with a hanging swing or outdoor couches to sit next to your hunny underneath a beautifully designed pergola fitted with a retractable canopy system. Sip a glass of wine under the shade of the extended canopy as the sun sets, and when night falls, you can retract the canopy to sit under the stars. Twinkling battery- or solar-powered lights hung under the Pergola and a few sweet-smelling flowering plants surrounding the space can make your go-to date place twice as nice.

5. Set Up an Outdoor Reading Nook

Level up your back or front yard with a reading nook that you can enjoy all summer without squinting to read under the high noon sun. Set up a bench, daybed, sofa, or any other outdoor furniture you can picture yourself curled up in and reading a book. Then you can complete the nook with plants, vines, or flowers for a natural vibe and cover the space with a designer cantilever umbrella.

Buying The Best Shade or All-Weather Canopy to Enhance Your Space

When looking for a canopy to maximize your DIY outdoor retreats, whether for dining, hosting, or chilling, quality and durability are priorities for that purchase. Structureworks offers a unique patented system utilizing an integrated track to change from sun to shade, and top locks ensure your canopies will release in high winds to reduce damage.

The process of investing in a customizable canopy shade system has never been easier with the help of ShadeTree experts. We guarantee our canopies will fit your layout and aesthetic.

1. Call Our Design Consultants

They are experts with many shade solutions under their belt.

2. Email Images

Pictures speak a thousand words, and your images are helpful. Your photos will provide insight so that your designer may suggest the best shade solution for your space.

3. Exact Measurements

Your designer will connect you with a local Structureworks installer who will do a site survey and take exact measurements of your space. Call your design consultant to schedule your measurement.

4. CAD Drawing

Using your exact measurements, our team will create a CAD drawing of your custom design for you to review and approve.

5. Pick Colors 

Select your fabric from hundreds of marine-grade colors and patterns that best coordinate with your structure and house.

Ready to get started? Contact us online.