Case Study: Creating a dream outdoor retreat in Calgary

Welcome to Calgary, at the foot of the Canadian Rockies, Calgary is well known for its pristine nature and laidback lifestyle. At Shadowspec we enjoy a bit of pristine ourselves and we’re happy to work with homeowners in Canada to design outdoor spaces when we met Ivan, he had an interesting shade challenge that we were excited to tackle with him. 

“So, the ideal gathering for us is we love having friends over. We love to entertain. My wife's an awesome cook. I have a nice stash of wine in my basement, so we like to enjoy some wine and whatever else people like to drink. We like sitting out on the deck because we walk right out of the kitchen onto the deck. If there's two of us, the four of us for dinner, we would like to eat out here. But it's not a very big deck. It was very limited because the umbrella we had was in the middle of the table.”

Exciting Shade Challenges Solved with Shadowspec

After learning about the Shadowspec Retreat and its clever capability, Ivan knew it would be the perfect umbrella for his balcony space. A key driver for Ivan and Helen was to create an accessible dining space with adequate shade. 

 “I saw this umbrella at the Restaurants Canada Show in Toronto. And when I saw it, it just caught my eye right away. First, because it's a wall mount. And then the colour, this is the colour they had on display. We have a cantilever umbrella in the yard that's almost the same colour. So, it was a perfect match when it was shown to me and all the features”

By installing the Shadowspec Retreat, they could invest in their dream outdoor table setting, with no hole in the middle. In 2024, Ivan made a trip to Toronto for the Restaurants Canada Show. There, he visited the Shadowspec Umbrellas stand and discovered the Shadowspec Retreat™.

Watch our Video Case Study with Ivan at his Calgary home

“Previously it was a little bit cramped. We had to have a table with an umbrella in the centre. I love to have a beautifully designed table when I have guests for dinner. It allows me to have a tablecloth and do everything that I'd like to make it look beautiful for our guests and it gives us more space. We can have more people out here. We don't have to look around each other from the pole of an umbrella.” 

Designer Outdoor Umbrellas - Designed in New Zealand

Wall Mounted umbrellas are great for compact spaces like their balcony, centre pole umbrellas in the middle of the table limit the amount of shade available and cantilever umbrellas take up space along the edges, limiting the floor space for dining and entertaining. It’s also worth noting that a traditional awning isn’t much use for a westward-facing deck as when the sun starts to set it will beam into the deck, the tilting function of the Shadowspec Retreat combined with ShadowTilt creates shade that moves with the sun. 

When we designed the Shadowspec Retreat at our home base in New Zealand, we envisioned this exact space. The narrow deck that couldn’t take a centre pole or cantilever umbrella, that would go unused or underused without the perfect balcony umbrella. Our in-house design team loves nothing more than seeing the creative ways customers use Shadowspec Umbrellas to transform and shape their spaces.