In the beginning...

My quest for the perfect backyard seems to have boiled down to outdoor curtains.

This is the backyard during construction

Notice all that sand, we live on a barrier Island of the Coast of Texas.  Nothing but sand and more sand.  This makes most things much easier and a few harder.

I wanted as long a covered patio as I could get.  It was a bit too narrow for me so we had more concrete added.  This of course was uncovered.  I did not think about where the sun set.  I'm from an Island in the Caribbean and these are just not things I thought about.  We have 80' trees so who's worried about where the sun sets.  But on this Island, I think I mentioned there is only sand so shade tress are not happening.

One the concrete was added, we did the fencing and the ceiling fans.

 Then we added the rocks and flagstone.  The thought I had was to add outdoor theater.  The flagstone would have seating.  I bought a large portable screen and an outdoor projector.

During construction I realized in afternoon we could not sit outside without baking.  You could get a tan in the great room. 

So I bought heavy, long cotton curtains from Ikea and life seemed good. 

 We also put in a large hot tub.

All the furniture went under the covered patio because of the sun.  Pic in from back door of the dining area.

 This picture is from the other direction.

 From out in the yard looking towards the master French doors.

All seems well..........