Nestled within a Toronto suburb, these homeowners have created the perfect backyard oasis. Adopting a sleek and minimal design concept, this city backyard boasts an outdoor kitchen, dining area, lounge area and swimming pool.

The well-planned hardscaping design facilitates and delivers on almost all of the homeowners desires and needs. However, because the backyard faces west, the strong afternoon sun proved to be too much to handle for the families outdoor comfort.

To remedy this problem, the project designer implemented a ShadeFX retractable canopy to the traditional stained cedar pergola structure.

Firstly, in order to maintain the backyards sleek design, the front and rear valences on the canopy were shortened to line up with the lower edge of the pergola beam. This created a clean integration between the structure and the canopy, adding to the minimalist features reflected throughout the rest of the space.

Also, the canopy is double manual operation, allowing the fabric to be extended or retracted from either side of the drive beam. Not only does this allow the homeowners to track the suns movement, but also it provides a greater degree of flexibility when deciding where to locate furniture and any future addition of outdoor accessories (such as outdoor heater or televisions).

Installing the double mount feature also gave the homeowner a greater sense of privacy. By retracting the canopy towards the fence, all neighbor sight lines are totally disrupted from above when fully extended.

Finally, the subtlest of features found on this install are probably the most appreciated. By mounting stabilizers underneath the outer rafters of the pergola, the wingtips are extended beyond the pergola frame. This stretches the ‘drip line’ to the outer perimeter of the pergola, keeping the homeowners, their guests, and their furniture dry from any sudden or prolonged rain showers.

Working alongside the designer and homeowners, ShadeFX delivered a solution that met the needs of the designer and the desires of the homeowner.

Yes, we love it! Our back yard would be un useable without it!  Great product, we’re very happy:) We have entertained in the pouring rain and the blazing sun!  We’re happy to support this product!

-Monique Steger

View the before and after photos here:
 

 
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