Project Completed: Backyard Oasis

Remember last February when I shared all about our new backyard? At the time I was predicting that we'd have the cover on our patio section by June...the reality ended up being slightly different! The good news is that we have the cover and, come summer, we will be enjoying the space:

The not-so-great part was that it took literally until the middle of October for this to get installed. We ordered it in February, they came out and measured then told us they would ship from Japan once they had enough orders to fill the container. Apparently, with the record snow we had in March, their ordering slowed down so that by May they had delayed our anticipated install date to early July. Well, that date came and went and at the time I was disappointed not to have it in by my birthday party which was the last weekend of July- the earliest they could manage was the Monday after. 

Come that Monday we had a very unpleasant surprise- once they opened the box they realized that the wrong parts had been received- we needed to have another order shipped from Japan and installation was now anticipated for the end of September. I could have cried! In fairness to the company that installed it, I have to say they promptly offered us a $500 discount if we could wait it out. With the total project now dropped to under $3000, we figured we would wait it out. 

After some other rain-related delays, they finally installed it in October and I could not be happier with the finished product and how it makes my 'lanai' complete:

 

The poly material is sort of transparent so that it really allows a lot of light through it but it blocks the sun:



It also allows us to sit out in a gentle rain (hard rain makes the gutters splash so it does get a bit wet). I am so glad we didn't go with a wood cover- it would definitely change the lighting inside the house.