Search Results - Laredo Sunset

How to Determine Pergola Rafter Spacing

Careful pergola rafter spacing along with attractive hardware will make your pergola a thing of beauty. I spent a happy eight months working as part of a carpentry crew at the Canaveral National Seashore in Florida. The seashore is a wildlife preserve, and to protect the unique ecosystem of the dunes, we were charged with building boardwalks, viewing platforms, and other elevated areas to keep visitors from treading the delicate flora of the dunes beneath their sandal-clad feet. Sometimes we would build pergolas on the existing deck surface of these platforms. The park service had a tendency to order too much...

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Updating a Ranch Style House Exterior with a Front Yard Pergola

Updating a ranch style house exterior with a front yard pergola gives the home an entirely new aspect. Ranch style houses are the homes of the American Dream. Also known as ramblers and California ranchers, these are houses that were developed in the 1920s, built during the 1950s and into the 1980s, and, because familiarity breeds contempt, abandoned in the 1990s for a variety of revival homes that have collectively and contemptuously become known as McMansions. But the humble rancher endures, and was actually the first home designed for the modern lifestyle. They’ve been built and refined for over a century, and...

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Front Porch Renovation Ideas to Add Storage and Space for Entertaining

A front porch doesn’t always need a complete overhaul to give it new life. Sometimes simple front porch projects are enough to bring a new look to a home. Not long after my friend married and bought his first home, his wife headed out of town for a cruise with her mother and sister. While they were gone, my friend planned to host a series of low-key boys nights at his house. But when we arrived with my friend at the new house, we found that the battery in his garage door opener was dead, and because he never used his...

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