The Outdoor Gazebo

An Inexpensive Way to Add WOW to your Backyard

Love the idea of a gazebo in your backyard but fear the high cost? Relax! You can have the gazebo of your dreams at a cost that won’t bust your budget.

You can build your gazebo frame from wood using an inexpensive ready made kit, but for a relatively inexpensive gazebo with less maintenance worries than wood, consider an aluminum model. Aluminum gazebos come in every design from your basic four walls and roof to elaborate Oriental pagoda styles.

The aluminum tubing and struts used in gazebo building is lightweight. Aluminum gazebo frames can be folded and are very easy to install. Because aluminum is much lighter than wood, you can move your aluminum gazebo from one location in your yard to another with very little effort. Aluminum is immune to rot or rust as well and is resistant to humidity and extremes of temperature while being very strong and sturdy. Aluminum can also support screens or canopies to provide shade.

If you are more interested in a DIY project, you can make your gazebo walls from any material you choose. Many people love the look of wood lattice gazebo sides, especially if roses, mandevilla, clematis or other climbing vine or flowering greenery is planted at the base and allowed to use the lattice as a base on which to grow. However, remember that if you choose wood lattice, you will need to paint the lattice every so often, and this can be a chore. Lattice that works well for gazebos is also now available in plastic at many home improvement stores and online.

If you want to have just the gazebo frame of wood or aluminum, you can also use fabric for the gazebo sides and give it a definitive romantic touch. Many people have had great success using screens or mosquito netting curtains that can be taken down periodically and washed. Also, there’s also a powder coating you can apply to aluminum that creates a bamboo-like appearance.

Far less expensive than traditional screening, mosquito curtains can be hung using a combination of Velcro, curtain hooks, or curtain tracking. You will also be able to remove the mosquito netting curtain in minutes and enjoy a good old fashioned open porch whenever you choose.

If you opt to build your gazebo with solid walls you can customize it by installing windows or even French doors that allow you a view of the outside while keeping you safe from weather and bugs.

With outdoor living rooms becoming such a hot trend, a gazebo is a perfect way to pull your outdoor living space together and create a room that your family will love and use.