This was I think the coolest place on the tour, good to see it get some attention. Some inspiration for sure; I’m very curious about the back porch sail/cover/canopy deal, very cool.
This was I think the coolest place on the tour, good to see it get some attention. Some inspiration for sure; I’m very curious about the back porch sail/cover/canopy deal, very cool.
ClearyDome 
Matt, TJ from indystar.com forwarded your email about the tour and I thought I would post our response here. First off, I love your house and you will definitely be on the tour in the future- it took us four years before we agreed to do it, so you may as well accept the fact now 🙂
You are not alone in asking about the sun shade. We had no idea that it would turn out to be one of the most asked about “features” of our home! Even funnier was watching the reactions of people when I told them it was just a $20 purchase from Amazon.com. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OQ4SLI) Much cheaper than awnings or building a pergola (though I’m still filing that under a “someday” project) In fact the post we needed to hang the shade was more expensive than the fabric, and much more work to install.
For our house, it had become necessary to deal with the afternoon sun in summer that hit our back door since it caused the door handle to become pretty much incendiary. It turns out we really enjoy the added features of overall atmosphere and additional UV protected shade for us and the dogs. I also like that it can be easily removed during the winter. There are many sizes available, although colors are limited unless you go custom ($$$). The larger sizes will need larger posts, ours is small enough that a 6×6 is plenty strong.
Hope that helps, if you have other questions let me know!
Emily Terpstra