A cozy resting place will become comfortable if you provide protection from the vagaries of the weather. I'll tell you how we selected blackout curtains for a favorite place for the whole family. We considered many options until we found the best one. Now we are going outdoors not only in the summer heat, but also in late autumn, early spring, when the breeze is quite fresh, smelling of snow. Although there are no double-glazed windows in our gazebo, rain is not a hindrance at all.

Curtains, blinds and wind protection for gazebos and terraces

At a family council, it was decided that ordinary fabric curtains are beautiful, but they only have a decorative function. Apart from the fact that if you saturate them with repellents, they will become an excellent protection against insects. A significant disadvantage of fabric curtains is that they will not protect from rain, and in a strong wind they will cause inconvenience to vacationers.

The blinds from the apartment with aluminum slats did not hang out on the frames of the gazebo for a long time, they rattled with a light breeze, but they protected well from the sun. She offered to make limiters for the blinds, nothing good came of it. Every now and then they "crawled out" from under the tightly stretched keeper tape.

The choice of curtains for the gazebo began with an assessment of the criteria.

Functions of protective curtains

The list turned out to be large, curtains or blinds should protect:

from precipitation;
cold wind;
insects;
curiosity of neighbors.

The curtain should be:

beautiful;
non-fading in the sun;
dense;
water and dirt repellent;
wrinkle-free;
solid;
wear-resistant.

You can close the openings with transparent glass, but double-glazed windows will reduce the view and, as a rule, non-standard sizes will increase their cost, you can use a cheaper option for this - polycarbonate. But where to go from the sun? Since this material creates a greenhouse effect. Now there are different colors, but at the same time it passes light worse. There is a monolithic one, but this is an expensive pleasure and it is necessary to provide for ventilation, or not completely cover the gazebo with it. Therefore, only different types of street curtains began to be considered.

Although we did not particularly limit ourselves in the budget, we did not want to change the curtains every season, so the curtain fabric was shaken off immediately. We settled on acrylic, as an evening option, we considered a tarp, the fabric can be safely attached in the corners, it is denser than the sail.

Louver variations

Why didn’t want to leave the blinds - if necessary, they are easily assembled, they can be installed perpendicularly or at the desired angle to diffuse light. Soft plastic, natural bamboo were considered as lamellas, my husband suggested making rack structures. We looked at the ready-made options: sliding blinds with rigidly fixed transverse slats were of interest, but the mechanism periodically got stuck. They refused such a purchase. Office classic options, installed on windows from the outside of buildings, seemed too boring.

We stopped at external wooden blinds with heavy slats; they have been living in our gazebo for the seventh year already.

Outdoor blinds, called raf blinds, have a number of advantages:

they keep the morning cool in the heat, do not allow the gazebo to warm up, in late autumn they retain heat (when we turn on the heater, we always tightly close the frame of the gazebo, it turns out a cozy room);
muffle the sound, you can talk loudly with friends, turn on music without disturbing others;
protect from the wind, this property is especially important in cool cloudy weather;
they do not need to be dismantled for the winter, when on weekends it is within -10 ° C, we are happy to spend time in the gazebo, one 2 kW heater is enough to create comfort in a gazebo with an area of 12 m².

What could you choose now? Of course, modern decorative roller blinds.They are made like blinds: lamellas move along guides.

The highlight is that they are wound on top of a roller, resulting in an opening design. It is necessary - closed, it is necessary - removed. By the way, roller shutters are perforated, allow air to pass through, they are lighter with them. Flies will not penetrate through the holes. Lamellas are made of plastic, aluminum, wood veneer. You can find original colors, and, if you wish, order an individual painting.

Reflexors made of PVC

The structure on which the curtain material is wound is attached from the outside or inside of the gazebo. Neighbors who recently bought a plot chose them for their veranda. We fixed the blinds on the frames from the inside, the veranda was transformed beyond recognition.

It was said that there are models with an electric drive, silently sliding from the bottom when you press a button on the remote control. The neighbors open the curtains by hand, this procedure does not take much time. As in a fairy tale: pull the string.

What I liked about the PVC reflectors:

they are durable, designed for long-term operation;
they are not afraid of rain, they protect well from morning condensation, the microclimate is maintained on the veranda .;
polymer is easy to clean, traces of rain, dust is removed with a regular jet from a hose without any detergents;
it has been checked: PVC reflectors can tolerate subzero temperatures normally, the neighbors did not take them off for the winter, however, the curtains were twisted;
the canvas is not injured by wind load, the plastic did not give up even under the onslaught of medium-sized hail, powerful gusts during a thunderstorm;
mold, fungus does not form on the film, I did not even imagine that the plastic panel would be so practical;
polyester is not afraid of sparks from the barbecue, PVC does not belong to flammable materials.

Minus - on the sunny side, the canvas faded a little, I didn't think that plastic could fade like that. The neighbors chose translucent roller blinds, they let the light through well. I saw other color options for the PVC roller blind, I think everyone can choose something to their liking.

And finally

If I was decorating the gazebo now, I would definitely make double curtains: inner curtains made of fabric for the summer, dense, not allowing wind and moisture to pass through, outside. Oh, that's an idea! Tomorrow I'll go buy lightweight inner curtains made of dense synthetics.