Spaces
Backyard shade project: Innovative shade design at home
When the time comes to redesign your living space to provide comfort all year round, finding ways to transform your outdoor area into a boutique backyard retreat may be just the answer. The trend towards creating a luxurious experience right in your own yard or patio has never been more popular, and this is exactly what David had in mind when he contacted Shadowspec Umbrellas.
Dreaming up the ultimate backyard design
When he contacted one of our Shade Specialists in New South Wales, he needed help. His yard was typical for modern inner suburb properties of its kind: stark, bare and uninspired. You know the kind! Like most underutilized suburban yards we come across, we could see it was brimming with potential, and David had the vision and design ideas to bring it all to life. This culminated in a selection of umbrellas to pair with a hot tub providing the polished modern aesthetic he aspired towards.
Key to David’s design philosophy was a focus on aesthetics and quality. “Aesthetics are very important to me; how a product looks and functions is what I’m looking for.”
With that in mind, he knew the hot tub would be a centre piece of his backyard design–a showpiece and a space to relax and unwind at home.
“The spa pool is almost like a sculpture” mused David, “I knew I wanted to surround that sculpture with beautiful things, and umbrellas were right at the top of my list.”
The brilliant Vortex Ikon Spa Pool was selected to sit front-and-centre (or off-center) in the layout design.
Choosing the right tools for the task at hand
With the project in full-throttle and David chose to build a mock-up version of his yard and the space using the intuitive, professional-grade design tool SketchUp. This software allows you to transform concepts like the one he has dream backyard into buildable 3D models and is trusted by architects, builders, and designers worldwide. Doing this allowed him to effortlessly visualize the area and make the best use of the space available. His final layout of the north-facing yard features a spa area on an eastern deck, a central lawn with bench seating (with storage) and a western deck / seating area that looks back over the entire lawn. With the design in hand, the search was on for the perfect product.
Casting innovative shadows by design
With his sleeves rolled up and the build underway, David faced another interesting design challenge: How to get the shade as the sun moves across the sky? Using the design from the planning stage, David went into Sketchup to create a 3D CAD model of the Serenity. This allowed him to identify where to place the rotating cantilever, allowing him to find the perfect spot, ensuring optimal shade.
“I knew if I placed the umbrella towards the northern wall of the build, there would be points during the day I would actually have to rotate it out over the neighbor's side of the fence and that’s not an optimal use of shade”
Thanks to the innovative shadows feature in Sketchup, he could toggle the position of the sun and see how shadows would cast throughout the day. This gave him a general idea of how the sun or shadows would look in his specific location at a specific time of day. This allowed him to discover the optimal installation position to shade the spa pool all day long.
Achieve full backyard potential
Results of his research showed that the best place for the Serenity to be installed was just behind the spa pool. With this insight, David decided to mount the supplied 316 Stainless Steel surface plate underneath his new deck build.
The concept was to lay a concrete slab under the part of the eastern deck where the umbrella was to be mounted. The surface plate was then mounted to the concrete and the wooden deck laid over-top. This provided a nice flush look and allowed the umbrella to be placed in the perfect spot whilst preserving the rotational capabilities of the Serenity.
As the slats were quite close to the decking the shape of the surface plate and spigot had to be routed out so the deck would sit flush. David devised a solution to install the Centre Pole Outdoor Umbrellas in the central lawn and western deck areas.
David built custom, in-ground anchors that could be covered up with a plug when the umbrellas were not in use. This gives him the option of removing them from the footprint of the build when needed, adding to the modular functionality of the yard. The storage for the SU2 outdoor umbrellas was also integrated into the build, inside the bench seating of the central lawn.
Making the design plans come together
In collaboration with Shadowspec, the umbrellas that were specified into the space were: one 3.5m Octagonal Shadowspec Serenity™ Sunbrella Oyster and two 2.7m Octagonal Market Umbrellas in White.
“I found that while Shadowspec wasn’t the cheapest product, it stood out as the best looking and best build quality of all the umbrellas I research"
Having looked at a few other cantilever umbrellas, David was disappointed with how cumbersome and laborious they were to operate. However, when he researched the Shadowspec range and discovered the Serenity, he found the innovative deployment feature really hit the mark.
Using calculated geometry and expert engineering the Shadowglide™ sliding mechanism works in complete harmony to open or close your umbrella in 5 seconds. David was delighted with the ease of deployment from the Serenity – a popular feature of David’s family and friends, they can't believe how easy it is to use.
There’s no place like home
David’s space is a testament to his hard work, Aussie ingenuity and vision.
“Shadowspec helped me fully realise my project potential – even without the umbrellas the space is beautiful, but it would just be unusable in the heat of the sun. Both the form and function of the umbrellas are perfect for the space and the vision that I had - they’ve really pulled the whole thing together for me.”
We are beyond proud to have assisted in this stand-out hot tub project and wish David and his family many great memories and moments shared enjoying this beautiful new space for years to come.
Our Shade Specialists are here to help
Elevating your indoor outdoor living space by introducing a hot tub or designer furniture can truly elevate that boutique hotel feeling at home. If you're in need of expert advice on shade for your backyard project, we're only a phone call away.
