A Little More About the Retractable Awning

For those of you who requested a few more shots of the retractable awning, I've tried to give you an idea of what it is all about.  Here you see it fully extended.  It extends to the edge of our patio and shades the majority of the patio.  Ahhh ... relief at last :).

Here I am sitting on the patio (in the glorious shade:) watching my boys play the new yard game they bought their dad for Father's Day.  You can see that there is a slight overhang along the front edge.

This will give you an idea of how it is attached to the brick wall.

You can also see how it rolls up on the roller.

It was quite loud when they were drilling into the brick.

In this picture you can also see part of one of the "arms" that hold the awning out when it is extended.

In this picture the awning is about half way open.

You can see how the arms are moving in.

When the awning is fully extended the arms are straight out.

This is how it looks when the awning is in the up position.

The salesman brought a book of swatches that we could choose from.  There was just about every color you could think of and even some with patterns.  We opted for  a shade that would match our trim and grout colors on the house.

We had it installed before Easter and have been enjoying it  immensely since then.  Sometimes I even extend it when I'm in the house to keep the sun off the furniture.

As I was taking these pictures I was under the watchful eye of this little wren.

She was making sure I wasn't going to bring harm to her little nest.

A couple of weeks ago we watched as she and her mate were very busy preparing their nest.  We didn't have the heart to take it down after all of their hard work, so it has remained.  The movement of the awning hasn't seemed to bother it.  Once the babies have flown the coop we will remove it.  I guess by now you already know that we are bird lovers. 

I hope this has shed some light on the retractable awning for those who may be interested.  It is a bit of an investment, but we now believe it to be well worth it.  If you have any specific questions that I haven't answered for you, please feel free to ask.