How to Design a Pergola: 5 Easy Steps

how to design a pergola

Right now, you have a big empty space in your yard, your deck, or your patio. The only thing you’re waiting for is a custom pergola that completes your outdoor style. If you’re ready to get started, we’re here to help. In today’s blog, we’re showing you how to design a pergola in 5 easy steps — plus, you can order online right here.

At Garbrella, we’re a luxury pergola builder that crafts and ships custom pergolas nationwide. Our customers love having the chance to design their pergola from the ground up, and to tailor it to their needs. Follow these 5 steps to design your perfect custom pergola — and we’ll give you a quote!

How to Build a Pergola for Your Deck, Patio, or Yard

how to build a pergola

Designing a custom pergola is a matter of determining how you’ll use it and what extras and add-ons you most want or need. Follow along with these steps and you’ll see how to build a pergola to your specifications in no time:

1

Plan How You’ll Use It

The first step to design a pergola is knowing how you’ll use your new shade structure. No matter where you’ll place your pergola, it’ll create the elegant ambiance you crave — placing it is all about its practical use. From our experience, the most popular uses for a pergola are to enhance a seating area, a grill station, a hot tub, or an outdoor dining area.

2

Decide on Free-Standing or Attached

Once you know how you plan to use the pergola in conjunction with your deck, patio, or yard, you’ll need to decide if you want the pergola attached to your home or free-standing. An attached pergola will always cost less than a comparably sized free-standing option, but that is only one factor to consider. A free-standing pergola gives you more flexibility as far as placement is concerned and is a necessity for building a mid-yard seating area.

3

Size

Once you know what type of outdoor space you want to build and what type of pergola you need, the next step to building a pergola is to select your size. While we can’t tell you the perfect size for your space, we can tell you the most popular sizes for the following spaces:

  • Small Patio: around 12’ X 12’
  • Average Sized Decks: 12’ X 16’
  • Large Decks: 16’ X 24’
  • Separate Backyard Pergola: 12’ X 16’

Learn more about pergola sizing.

4

Vinyl Color

Once you have the size locked in, you’ll move on to picking the vinyl color you’ll see every day. While white vinyl is the most popular and classic, both clay and tan are emerging as excellent style-impact colors. In particular, both clay and tan make a strong impression when paired with a home with white vinyl siding.

5

Extras

The final step of building a custom pergola involves choosing your extras. Since all of our pergolas are hand-built to order, selecting custom accessories is done easily with your order. Some of our most popular add-ons include:

  • Built-In Lights
  • Retractable Shade Covers
  • Custom-Shaped Columns
  • Decorative End Caps
  • & Much More

Now you have the basic idea of how to build and design a pergola. If you’re ready to place your order, you can shop online and enjoy the convenience of nationwide shipping. However, if you have more questions about designing your unique structure, reach out — our exterior designers are standing by!

Why to Choose a Garbrella Pergola

design your own pergola

Now that you know how to design and build your Garbrella pergola, we want to tell you a little about why to choose us. Ever since pergolas have become the HGTV in-demand accessory, you can buy pergolas practically everywhere: from Amazon to your local hardware store.

However, we build pergolas to a higher standard of quality. While most of those big box store pergolas are built by the thousands in factories, our pergolas are hand-built by Amish craftsmen in our workshop. These are the differences you can expect with EVERY Garbrella pergola:

  • You’ll never need to re-stain or re-paint your pergola.
  • Your pergola will be sturdy enough to withstand high winds and weather.
  • Your pergola will never rust or rot.
  • Your pergola will have a 30-year warranty — and will last even longer than that!

Reach out today or place your order online right now!

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