Maureen Mavar lives in a charming little cottage with lots of potential. She loves the breezy feeling of the house, along with the fenced-in yard that her three dogs can play in. Unfortunately, the yard has no shade. So Maureen wants to create a shady sitting area that both she and her canine friends can enjoy. After doing some research, Maureen has decided to build a pergola between her cinderblock property wall and her pool. She also wants to add lattice to the top of the property wall and build a butcher-block bench to go under the pergola. Maureen's sister Kathy will be flying in from out of town to help, and with luck, Maureen feels they can finish the project in two days.
To begin the project, Maureen and Kathy start with the property wall. They remove the cap blocks and install the lattice on top of the wall, mortaring it into place. After that is complete, the sisters attempt to drill bolt holes in the concrete deck, for the braces that will support the shelter posts. The drilling is problematic, so they postpone this step for another day and spend the rest of day one painting the property wall a bright turquoise.
On day two, Maureen and Kathy succeed at drilling the bolt holes by using a more powerful drill. Next, they install the braces and move on to building the butcher-block bench. The bench comes together fairly quickly, but by the end of the day, the pair is now one day behind schedule. On day three, the pressure is on to finish because Kathy has to fly back home that evening. Maureen and Kathy start attaching the pergola posts to the braces. The sisters have trouble getting things level, but eventually they get this step done.
Day three continues as Maureen and Kathy continue building the pergola. After some difficulty installing a crossbeam, they get most of the structure finished before Kathy has to leave. With the help of a friend, Maureen finishes the job on day four, installing rafters and lattice on top of the pergola. The project is now complete, and the yard has a whole new look. Maureen is happy with the result, but what really made the project a success was having the privilege of working with her sister Kathy.
