After we finished our floating deck, the next backyard project was a pergola. I wanted a design with a modern feel and something that matched the style of the deck. No swooping decorative rafter ends here (you know what I mean). I wanted clean and simple lines, so I designed a pergola with a boxed frame and joists with no overhang.
The hard part
Building a pergola is not for the faint of heart. My husband and I managed to construct the whole thing ourselves, but we had our challenges. The first came with the posts.
Living in Minnesota, it gets COLD. That means any footings we needed for the pergola had to be at least 42 inches below ground – the frost line. That’s a lot of digging!
Always up for a challenge, I grabbed a shovel and posthole digger and got to work. Several hours later, there were four holes 42 inches deep and wide enough for a 12 inch diameter concrete tube form. Then came mixing about 20 bags worth of concrete to fill those forms.
After the concrete was set, we anchored the 6×6 posts to the piers. There was a lot of math involved to ensure those posts were right where they needed to be.
The second major challenge was constructing the boxed frame. Since I didn’t want any support posts on the deck, I needed a large enough piece of wood to span nearly 15 feet without sagging. So we went with 2x10s. Let me tell you, a 2x10x15 is a heavy piece of lumber. With a little ingenuity and a lot of muscle, we hoisted them 8 feet into the air and secured them to the posts.
The results
Once we got into a rhythm, it was smooth sailing from there. We completed the frame. It’s about 15 feet by 10 feet.
In keeping with the clean lines, I used 2x6s for the joists across the pergola. They’re centered in the middle of the 2x10s and give the structure a modern look.
Once the posts were up, it was time for the heavy lifting. 
The boxed frame has a clean, modern look. 
The completed project! 
The pergola is off-center on the deck because we have more plans for the right-side area. 
To finish off the project, we had electricity run to the pergola and hung lights. 
The deck and pergola are now a perfect area to relax and entertain.
To complete the project, we hired an electrician to run power from the house to the pergola. This now allows us to hang lights and have a speaker for music. It’s now a great place to relax or entertain friends and family.
Speaking of entertaining, there’s a reason the pergola is not centered on the deck. But that involves another big project; one that will need to wait until next year.
P.S. While most pergolas are designed to shade a deck or patio, we really didn’t need much shade. There’s a large tree in the middle of the backyard that provides enough protection from the sun. The main reason for the pergola was to define and separate the area from the rest of the yard. It definitely adds some visual interest.
Mid Mod Suburban 
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