DIY Backyard Pergola

My hubby loves to build things and be outdoors, so when he was driving by and saw a guy unloading a truck full of wood into a dumpster what did he do...he asked to have it, and the guy was super nice and actually ended up driving to our home(it was only a few blocks away) and unloading this truck full of wood for free. Let me just tell you, Jon was on Cloud 9 and ready to build. He decided that he was going to build a pergola(I kept calling it a Gazebo, but I guess that is not the correct term). At first I had my doubts because honestly all I saw was a big hodge-podge pile of wood, but Jon definitely proved my doubts wrong and whipped this thing together like he had done it a million times. I was quite impressed!  

                   

 

So, this is what the finished product at first looked like, though I was really proud of Jon, it wasn't the prettiest thing. I envisioned something more elegant and whimsical.

We both felt like it need some type of coverage, so we decided on putting up burlap curtains. Thank goodness we have a bulk discount fabric store right down the street from us and we picked up some white burlap for $0.99 a yard. We had to cut it ourselves, but really burlap is pretty forgiving and doesn't need to look perfect. Jon strung it up on a cord line and stapled it and then trimmed all the excess fabric hanging on the inside top and bottom.

I knew I wanted to create some type of chandelier hanging from the middle, but wanted to keep it earthy looking so I ended up using a wooden wreath that I got from Goodwill(first had to rip all the junk it had on it) wrapped it in a strand of the mini white lights and added a crystal garland I had gotten from Michaels. 

Then for some finishing touches I tied the curtains back with some fabric we had also picked up from the discount fabric store and added some candles to the front that have battery operated led lights so that we don't have to worry about the thing burning down. Placed the chairs and table we already owned and called it a success. 

We are looking forward to spending many days and nights in our homemade pergola. And to think this all started from a free pile of wood. I am so lucky to have a talented husband. I think we make a pretty good team! 

Did you do any fun projects this weekend?

xo, Jess