We decided not to do a top row of pergola boards, for a couple of reasons. When we did the initial plans for the house, removing the small window (for code reasons) from Hanna's bedroom, changed the look of the front of the house, we had the option of doing a dormer or even a wrap around porch - but we opted out of both, in retrospect we should have gone for the dormer. The front of the house has always been a bit of a thorn in my side, driving up to the house it seemed to be lacking something, looking very plain and well, quite frankly *blah*. There is no way I wanted a covered porch (which would have solved the problem) because I didn't want to lose the lovely morning - mid day sunlight, winters are long enough without purposefully eliminating natural light - therein came the decision to build the pergola. It allows plenty of light in the windows and adds a certain architectural appeal to the home that it was lacking, but from the far distance - it is hard to see the definition of the profile, so my bareness factor isn't completely remedied but much improved. So rather then spend more money on lumber, the single row boards will more than suffice!
So, now comes the rest of the outdoor space projects some of which include building the grade up around the deck to conceal the piers, laying grass seed, building flower, toy storage and garbage boxes, the all important patio furniture selection and then the rock garden on the north side of the house........it is shaping up to be a busy season!
Since I know that a lot of you have appreciate the financial honesty, I will share the deck material costs with you, I am not sure of the exact cost of installing the deck piers as it was bulked in with the cost of contractor's bill, but the lumber and hardware was "approx" $5000.00, no that does not include labour - but that is one figure we are keeping to ourselves ;)
