Anyone got a pergola?

[Monserratty]

DH wants a Pergola. We have an L shaped kitchen diner and the proposed pergola would go over both the kitchen window and patio doors. At present the room is south facing and very sunny in the afternoon. Yes, on days like today we have to keep blinds down because it is so sunny,DH’s argument is that pergola will help. I’m concerned about the many other days of average sunlight. Could people with pergolas advise me if it decreases sunlight in the room? Anyone regret getting one?
DH’s vision includes vines all over it; makes me ever more concerned it’ll make the room dark.

Ooh weirdly DH mentioned a pergola today over the patio to shade us sitting there and keep the kitchen diner cool that- at the moment- is so blazing hot we, currently, need blinds permanently closed.

I think the amount of times over the last 4 years we’ve lived here it’s been too hot to sit on the patio are few, as are the days we need to shut the blinds in the kitchen diner.

During a typical spring/summer would I be happy to sit in a lot of shade under a pergola? Nope, because when it’s shady/cloudy I don’t even sit out there at all so I’m also interested in other people’s views.

Have you looked at one of those awnings that retract instead? Some of the Niger end ones are quite nice. That way you can have shade/sun when you want.

Hi. We have a pergola running outside kitchen and dining room windows. It's like wooden beams into patio and then at a right angle and the beams join on to the house. I love it. No it does not affect light but sweet to see the climbers grow up the beams, and in time they will go over the horizontal beams also. It's a lovely feature in the back garden but it does not provide shade.

Here's my one.

we have one just like that and we have some shade sails attached when it is hot. it works brilliantly

I like that Ettie really adds character, the vibes will look fabulous when they take off.

vines!

I have a massive pergola (the length of our house) and it does cut out light.

We're in Aus so it's not a huge deal here and we use that space 80% of the year.

When we were in the UK I looked at a retractable awning for our patio area as I think that makes more sense.

At a previous house we had a retractable awning and used that quite a lot in the summer. It did make the rooms at the back darker, but found they were also cooler when it was down. Enjoyed sitting out under it on hot evening though.