Raise your hand if you are ready for the next installment of Project Pergola. To recap, other people besides myself had worked for two weekends prepping and building the pergola. Now we will hear  the tale of the third weekend. 

If you have read my previous post you now know that the plan was after erecting the frame and large joists, old shutters would be attached to the top of the structure to add visual interest and more complex shade patterns.

To prepare to attach the shutters, they had to be arranged in such a way that they could be attached to two joists. Here, in the rain, joists are put out at accurate  distances.

Here are the shutters arranged so that the builders could  see where they would  attach to the joists.( I hope all this makes sense. I can only tell the story the way I understand it. ) The strips of blue tape are from where I had previously numbered the shutters to avoid disagreement and confusion during construction. However, (insert loud throat clearing sound) the aforesaid strategy did not  achieve the goal specified. Some of the numbers were washed off by the rain. We were all walking around with several shutters in our hands, trying not to trip over ourselves or the joists. My husband and I wound up  crouched down at opposite rows of shutters, each trying to rearrange the shutters  from our own end, causing each other to be off by just one shutter,  and making meaningful remarks to one another such as, “But that won’t work!”, “It works fine. Just follow the numbers!” and, “Never mind, just do it the way you want.” Our son wisely stood in a shady corner and said not a word. From the photo you can see that the shutters were eventually arranged.

Next the holes were predrilled.

And a shutter goes up!

Here is view from the top of the ladder. 

It didn’t take long before the whole thing started looking pretty cool.I love, love, love, the shade patterns! And I love the shapes of all the component parts!

This little vine is supposed to grow on the pergola. But it doesn’t look too healthy here.

Look at the pattern on the chimney!

Here they are finishing up with the electrical wiring for the fan and an electrical outlet.

Is anyone missing any tools?

After the shutters were attached and duly admired, more joists were  added.

Two different sized joists were added between every large joist.

The joists were slightly different heights, and added to the overall shade patterns.And we’re finished! Actually we are short one board that we can’t  buy and put on until next weekend, but I’m going to call it finished. Except for the fan. And furniture. But we will leave that for another day.

Before.

And after. Even this little critter is pleased! What wonderful fun this whole process has been! I haven’t decided what to put underneath the pergola yet in the way of furnishings, except for a rug and a fan. If anyone has any suggestions I’d love to hear them. Thanks for coming along on this journey with me!