There comes a time when you have allowed the yard to go to seed a bit too much. My parents have always enjoyed having a laissez-faire approach to their yard’s landscape, flower beds, and gardens, but as they grew older, they paid less and less attention to the details, until their property looked more like an overgrown jungle than a well-cared-for rural-suburban home. Finally, it got to be too much for them to look after, and they decided to do something about it.

Clearing out brush, cutting low-hanging branches, and tilling the soil of the garden were some of the more major projects we undertook to restore our family’s yard, but we didn’t stop there. My mother had always dreamt of having a space in the rear of the house, among the trees and bushes that we had left in the backyard when we built the house. Specifically, she wanted a place she could rest, relax, and read a book, rather than focus on her work (she works from home, you see) or do housework.

Once upon a time she was an avid reader—something I inherited from her, I suppose—but in the past few years, she has stopped reading entirely. It can be hard to find the requisite peace and quiet to read among the chaos of a household, though, which is why she decided on finding a space outside and away from everything to have her mental vacations.

The Best Way to Relax Outside

Having found a good spot to clear out, we needed to decide what shape the space would take. While we initially considered just a gravel floor and some benches, after some research and discussion, we settled on a gazebo for my mother.

Gazebos offer a slightly more… shall we say, civilized, way of enjoying an outdoor living space. Outdoor living structures come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but well-built outdoor gazebos allow you to enjoy quality woodwork, the shade of the gazebo’s roof, the comfort of the gazebo’s benches and railing, and the beauty of a gazebo on your property. Few other outdoor living structures offer the many features you’ll find with a gazebo.

We found that gazebo kits aren’t as difficult to use as you would expect. They certainly took some time to set up, but we wanted to make sure we were getting everything right. If you make a mistake with setting up a large structure like a gazebo, you will find yourself having to repair it later on down the line, as the structure will not be entirely sound.

The Advantages of Gazebos

Gazebos offer certain advantages as far as outdoor living spaces go. Specifically, they’re incredibly easy to clean and care for. The wood has to be stained and treated periodically, perhaps once a year, but after that you really don’t have to do much to maintain the look of the wood.

It is just as easy to clean a gazebo as well. With a hose, you can pretty easily spray dirt and debris—such as tree leaves and twigs—off the gazebo after a storm or every week or two of use. If your gazebo is a bit on the dirtier side, using ecologically safe soap and water, along with a sponge, mop, and hose, is a good way to get your gazebo sparkling clean again.

These days, my mother spends a lot of time out on the gazebo. Even when she doesn’t particularly feel like reading, she still likes to sit in the gazebo and enjoy her lunch, or a light rain, or the sunset. It’s also a great place for her to enjoy her garden of flowers. In the end, our gazebo is probably the best thing we’ve done for our property in years.