Sun Shade Decking: Beating the Heat While Chilling Outside

The Project:

Hello dear reader to my garden project designed to keep the hot sunlight at bay while enjoying a relaxing outside space. My goal was to transform a modest outdoor area into what would essentially be a second room to my studio apartment, a space where I could stay comfortable during intense summer heat. Rather than creating a standard garden decking area, I focused on designing a budget friendly deck that actively reduces heat exposure and improves comfort throughout hotter days. The build combines a garden decking with a large 3-metre square parasol for overhead shade, alongside custom-fitted wooden Venetian blinds mounted around the pergola structure.

What makes my build effective is its flexibility. Unlike fixed screening or traditional garden shelters, the adjustable blinds can be lowered and angled depending on the changing position of the sun. This allows the space to remain shaded and usable for much longer during the day, helping block direct sunlight, reduce glare, and create a noticeably cooler environment without the need for powered cooling systems.

The result is an outdoor living area designed specifically to 'beat the heat' through passive cooling, adaptable shading, and thoughtful environmental control. It's not a new idea for sure, but getting production decking kits with blinds are very expensive and I was sure I could make a budget friendly sun shaded decking area myself.

The Inspiration:

This project was inspired by a very practical issue I have... enjoying outdoor space during hot weather without suffering from the effects of direct sunlight. As much as I love being outside, especially in the summer, I burn easily and prolonged exposure to heat and sun can quickly make me feel unwell, which meant that simply adding a parasol and sun cream was not enough. As the suns position changes across the garden, the shaded area constantly shifted, leaving parts of the decking exposed and uncomfortable to use.

I wanted to create a solution that adapted with the environment rather than fighting against it. The addition of adjustable Venetian blinds turned the decking from a simple seating area into a controllable outdoor retreat that could respond to changing light and heat conditions throughout the day. The project was much about making a comfortable outside space for me to use instead of sweltering away in my apartment on those hot days, as well as having a nice space to entertain with friends and family. I relaxing area to spend time outside during summer without relying on energy hungry air con units inside, or fans outside which wouldn't help block direct sunlight anyway.

Building the decking was part of a larger 5 month project transforming a long neglected backyard filled with weeds and rubbish, and transforming it into a calming, beautiful and useable space. I published an Instructable about the whole project which you can read about by clicking here.

What Makes This Different:

Most garden decking projects focus mainly on appearance or entertaining space, and while that was part of the reason for me building my decking, this build was also designed around environmental comfort and heat management. The combination of overhead coverage and adjustable side shading creates multiple layers of passive sun protection, allowing the space to stay cooler and more usable during peak heat, especially where I live where the surrounding space is quite open. The movable wooden blinds also give precise control over airflow, privacy, brightness, and heat exposure depending on the weather and time of day, and can easily be removed and stored away during the winter. And where the decking positioned, it also has the added bonus of keeping my apartment cooler too.

Instead of treating shade as a fixed feature, this project treats it as something dynamic and adaptable, turning a budget DIY garden deck into a flexible summer living space mainly designed to improve my comfort during hot weather. And if you were wondering in the last photo, that's me on the left. Lets get to it.

Tools:

1. Pencil, ruler, straight edge
2. Jigsaw
3. Handheld circular saw
4. Cordless drill/driver with various bits
5. Garden rake
6. An electric rotovator, and garden fork to turn the old turf/soil over
7. Gardening knife
8. A wide head Yard broom
9. Dustpan and brush
10. A Bucket
11. Paint brush (and an optional paint roller)
12. Electric wire cutters/strippers for LED lights

Materials:

1. Weed membrane sheet
2. 8 sheets of 18mm x 1200mm x 2400mm shuttering plywood
3. 12 Wooden shipping pallets
4. 10 lengths of 75mm x 75mm x 2400mm treated timber
5. 20 galvanised angle brackets
6. 10 galvanised post brackets
7. Pack of zinc plated hex head coach screws
8. 10 lengths of 25mm x 70mm x 4500mm flat timber cladding
9. 8 lengths of 35mm x 70mm x 2400mm curved timber cladding
10. 8 lengths of 38mm x 61mm x 2400mm treated CLS timber
11. ESP wood edge sealant
12. Wooden venetian blinds (with nylon cords)
13. 3 meter x 3 meter counter-lever square parasol
14. External garden paint
15. Set of solar LED garden lights
16. Outdoor LED lights
17. Photocell sensor light switch
18. Electrical wire
19. Electrical wire heat shrink tubes
20. Plant and pots of your choice
21. Decorative stones (optional)

*The material links I have listed above are U.K links as that's where I am, so they are intended for reference so you can purchase the same or similar items in your location.

My design was a relatively straight forward one, to built a 4.5m by 3m decking area using wooden shipping pallets and shuttering plywood, overhead sun shade and additional shading around the back and far side of the pergola. I started off with a 3D sketch of what the backyard would roughly look like as I had ideas in my head, but needed to visually see it.

For the overhead sun shade I played around with a couple of ideas, retractable roller blinds, or a solid roof on the top of the pergola. But there was something important I needed to factor in... about 500 metres to what would be the front of the decking is the North Sea. And while it's nice living so close to the coast (nice sea breeze, the smell of the sea etc.), when the weather turns windy, oh boy does it get windy with some very strong gusts at times.

I was concerned that making a flat timber roof (and potentially two sides of the decking as well) would act as a wind trap and I didn't want the decking permanently covered anyway, and overhead roller blinds might flap around too much in a breeze. So I finally dialed in the plan of what I wanted, I would still have the 3 metre square pergola but without the cross braces, and instead have a 3 metre square counter-lever parasol that would fit inside and make up some elastic anchor points to stop it blowing around in a breeze.

And for the back and far side of the decking (where the sun shines from throughout the day) I would use wooden venetian blinds painted with a weather-proof paint and nylon cords, very strong and weather resistant attached to the pergolas upper frame. The bottom of the blinds would be held down onto the hand rails so they wouldn't blow around, the design of the venetian blinds would allow a breeze to pass through as opposed to a solid roller blind, and I would make them easily removable to store away in the winter spraying the metal parts with a rust inhibitor once a year.

So the decking would be 3/4 covered with 1/4 open the direct sunlight for guests who wanted to sit in the sun, a plywood corner unit would be made to sit in the shaded area to store a portable refrigerator for those much needed cool drinks, and a small cabinet that a TV would sit on, again in the shade keeping the TV out of direct sunlight. With a final plan, I got to work.

The first job, and what was the biggest job of all as you can see from the photos, was the clearance. A dirty back breaking job,, but a job that needed doing. I started off by concentrating on one area first, the soon to be decking area and the pathway leading to my door. Full length trousers, long sleaves , a good quality pair of work gloves and a face mask at times were worn because who knows what was lurking underneath all of the mess, broken glass, protruding nails, rodent mess etc.

I separated the metal, wood, plastics, and then use thick rubbish sacks to bag up and dispose of the rest. Once everything was sorted, I had a scrap metal company collect all of the metal (free of charge as they make money from the metal), and then made multiple trips to the local tip/recycling center to get rid of the rest of the rubbish.

Once the area was cleared, I went around with a bucket picking of any broken glass, stones and anything else that didn't belong there, then went around with my lawnmower on the lowest setting to cut and remove any remaining grass and weeds. I then used a cordless rotavator to turn over the soil going up and down, then going across left and right. Any large clumps of soil were either broken up with a garden fork, or removed. Then using a long length of timber I smoothed out the soil using a piece of board to kneel on. I did this in multiple direction taking the time to make sure the ground was as smooth and level as I could get it. Placing a spirit level on the timber length helped doing this. Using a make shift compactor, the soil was compacted leaving it flat, level and solid.

As I was on a budget, instead of using timber supports and decking boards, I opted to use new treated wooden shipping pallets for the supports, and 18mm thick shuttering ply sheets for the flooring. Much cheaper than a produced decking kit, but does the job just as well.

To make the decking base, I cut the 18mm shuttering plywood to size and sealed all of the edges with a couple of coats of clear ESP plywood edging sealant, a step not to be overlooked. While the sealant was curing, the soil area was then covered with a good quality weed membrane, doubled over and the edges overlapping.

The new pallets were then placed on top leaving small gaps between each so they didn't rub and squeak when walking on them, then the plywood sheets were placed on top and screwed down using 45mm decking screws. I also left a small gap between each sheet to stop and squeaking due to any wood expansion.

I finished the base by screwing in some lengths of curved cladding timber around the edges of the pallets (the cladding 'width' was the same as the pallet 'thickness'), then 5 coats of a grey weatherproof paint was applied with a paint roller all round.

An important thing to note, the area of the base what would be the entry/exit point had a sewage manhole cover, so to gain access for this, I made a removable hatch by cutting down one of the pallets, reinforcing the edges and cutting a section of ply to fit leaving a couple of millimetre gap all around.

Before building anything, I measured, cut and painted the majority of the timber 'before' assembling everything. This helps to get all areas of the timber covered and protected with weather-proof paint, and where I used two paint colours (light and dark grey), this saved the job of masking or cutting-in.

When the decking base paint was dry, the next job was to make the climbing frame for my cat, AKA the pergola and balustrade. First I measured, marked and fitted the ten post brackets to the decking base using zinc plated hex head coach screws and fitted all of the posts (75mm x 75mm treated timber), six short, and four tall ones for the pergola.

The four cross sections to make the upper pergola frame were attached by screwing each one onto the posts using heavy duty angle brackets.

The balustrade was made by screwing in some flat lengths of treated (and now painted) cladding timber to the posts, evenly spaced, leaving the entry/exit area clear. The handrails were made by attaching some more of the curved cladding lengths using mitre cuts to join the corners together. To support the hand rails, lengths of CLS timber was attached between each post using angle brackets, a final flat cladding length to cover the outside, and the curved cladding lengths fitted on top.

This was now a very secure structure as all of the timber attached to each other helps to support each other.

Before I set the parasol up, I needed to make a table first because the parasol would fit through a hole in the table and the four base weights would sit underneath out of the way, maximising the decking floor area. Using the width of two base weights decided the width of the table. The table top was made from some 18mm shuttering ply, fully sealed and painted. underneath, six legs were made and fitted from some 60mm x 60mm square treated timber and a small shelf added.

Lining the table up to its final position, a large hole has made using a large hole saw drill bit, just a bit wider that the parasol support arm so when it moved in a breeze, it wouldn't hit and move the table and spill our cool summer drinks.

The bases were filled half way with sand, and the rest with water, the metal parasol base put in place under the table and the weights put into position over the parasol base. Then the top half of the parasol was fitted to the base and locked into place with its securing bolt.

After using it for a couple of weeks, I decided to make one final addition to the parasol. While it was a strong bit of kit, I wanted to reduce the movement it would make when the wind picked up. I purchased a roll of elastic strapping and some plastic hooks. With the parasol open, I cut of lengths of the strap, fed a hook through it and screwed it to each corner of the pergola with a decking screw and a washer. The length of the elastic strap was cut to a length there it would be doubled over to hold the hook, and had a slight tension when fixed to the parasol, so when all four corners were hooked to the parasols corners, it stayed ridged with only a little movement when the wind blew it. The hooks were attached to the small envelope of material where the metal arms of the parasol cover fitted in.

When I settled on the idea of using venetian blinds for my decking, I started looking around for something appropriate, obviously metal ones would not be so great as they are made for indoor use and would eventually rust so I was looking for wooden ones. While these were more expensive to buy I figured it would be worth it, but while looking, a set of used wooden blinds became available of a freebee website, three blinds on just under 2.5 metres long, another 1.8 metres and the last one 1 metre long. While this meant they would be a little short, it was as much as made not difference... and they were free, local, and in good condition, perfect.

Because of the size of the blinds and the weight of the wooden slats, they were held together with nylon cord, very strong and weather-proof. As the inner workings were metal, I used a spray on rust prohibitor which I would apply one a year so I could leave the blinds up when it rained.

When I got the blinds home, I opened then up on my driveway, gave then a clean, and painted the slats with a white weather-proof paint, two coats each side. When the paint dried, it was time for fitting them.

Because I wanted to easily remove them during the winter, I decided on using heavy duty zip ties to attach the blinds to the upper pergola supports. I loosely fit a zip tie around the pergola supports where each end of the blinds would go, hooked up the blinds, tightened the ties and added a few more along the length of the blinds, cutting off the excess zip ties.

To stop the bottom of the blinds blowing around in the wind, I used some more zip ties to make some hooks around the decking hand rails. The blinds would be dropped down so they were almost resting on the hand rails, then the bottom of the blinds would hook through the zip tie loops holding the securely in place. A simple solution that actually worked really well.

When the blinds are not in use, they are fully retracted up, and I use some heavy duty Velcro (hook and loop) straps which wrap around the pergola supports, around the blinds, fed through the strap buckles and fastened.

When the blinds were fitted, it was just a matter of waiting for a very hot day to see how they would work, and I didn't have to wait long to find out that they worked better than expected. Adjusting the slats meant I could block the sun and yet have a nice through breeze, having the slats completely closed really helped keep the heat of the Sun out, and they looked pretty stylish too feeling like I was on holiday while at home. And as an added bonus, with the parasol open, if it decided to rain, I could still stay outside and keep dry.

The only downsides of having venetian blinds outside is...

1: my cat gives me a dirty look because she cant do her regular walk around the hand rails, and

2: If I have the slats open and a passing gust of wind blows through, the slats tend to close, a little annoying but kinda funny to watch, and really it's not a big deal.

A few finishing touches to make my sun shade decking complete.

1. I already spoke about making the table, but worth mentioning that I designed it to be strong, durable, wide enough to cover the parasol weights, but still leave enough space around the sides to sit around with some outdoor chairs.
2. An all important outdoor mains power socket was added to the back of the decking. I traced the cable around the deck into my apartment, and plugged into a spare wall socket. If you don't know electronics, pay for a professional to do this.
3. Some blue LED COB lighting strips were added around the inside of the decking balustrade just under the hand rails, and along with outer edge of the decking base, held on by metal clips. These were connected to an outdoor photocell switch. The negative an positive terminals were connected to a plug that connected to an outdoor power socket, and the LEDs neg and pos wires connected to the photocells relay terminals. So when the day draws to a close and gets dark, the sensor triggers and turns the LED strips on, and turns them off again in the morning.
4. Next I made a corner unit from some left over Plywood and timber that would sit at the back of the decking. This is where I put my portable refrigerator so it is kept out of direct sunlight whether the blinds/parasol are up or down.
5. For the front and back side of the outer edge of the decking, I cut some strips of leftover plywood, screwed some CLS timber lengths to one edge, painted them grey and lined them up along the outer border. This small trench was then filled with some white decorative stones that contrast the light and dark grey decking paintwork, and beautifully reflects the blue LED lighting at night.
6. And to finish off, I placed a small cabinet along the back of the decking to store by BBQ/firepit stuff and to put my TV on. With the blinds down and parasol open, the TV is out of direct sunlight keeping it cool and reducing glare so I can sit with my friends in comfort watching sporting events or listen to music. And talking about the BBQ/firepit, I made a plywood housing/ stand for it at the front end of the decking away from the parasol. A couple of potted plants in each decking corner weighed down with some bricks so they wouldn't blow over finished the project.

In the end, this project became far more than putting together a simple decking area. By combining adjustable shading, passive cooling, and budget friendly materials, I managed to create a very comfortable outdoor extension to my apartment that I use regularly even during intense summer heat. I hope this build shows how thoughtful, low energy solutions can make outdoor environments more enjoyable, practical, and accessible, proving that sometimes beating the heat is less about air conditioning, and more about designing smarter spaces.

I hope that I have given you some ideas or the inspiration to do something with your outside space if you're lucky enough to have one, especially if you're like me where you enjoy being out in the hot summer even if the hot summer doesn't agree with you.

Thanks for reading, and happy making.