Design Elements · Patio Covers & Pergolas

Patio Covers & Pergolas: 17 from real Napa & North Bay projects

A patio cover or pergola turns an open slab into a room — shade at midday, shelter in the shoulder seasons, a ceiling that makes a space feel finished. I design the function first: how many people, what time of day, which direction the sun and the view come from. Then it has to belong to the house and connect to the destinations around it, so the structure reads as part of a whole rather than an add-on. Vines and layered planting soften the posts and beams, and that's what settles it into the site.