WHAT SIZE AND HEIGHT SHOULD THE SHELTER BE? In general, with today's homes being built long and low, it will be a good plan to echo these proportions in other structures. The average height of indoor rooms today is 8'o". Outdoor rooms may not need to be higher than that, particularly those with open or slatted roofs, but, architecturally speaking, most shelters attached to the house or another building look better when they have their roofs or trellises placed at, or just below, the eaves of the adjacent roofs, usually 9 to 10 feet above ground level. Attach the stringer enough below, the line of the gutter so that crossbars or other superstructure may be placed on top and it will still come below the gutter. If this is too high, any normally visible architectural division of the house-the eaves of a low ell, the strong line of a tall picture window or door-may be your cue for placement. If not, then place the shelter so that the lower side of the rafters will clear the doors and windows by at least 6 inches or even a foot.

. . . placement of posts
Similarly, in deciding on the placement of posts or other uprights, it is obvious that they should never be placed in front of a door or window to bisect it, obscuring the view of the garden from indoors or impeding direct entry into the house. It is also apparent that in attaching a shelter to a building it should not end inside the visual lines above a window or a door opening, but should come at least to the edge or, better still, should extend beyond it by 6 inches or a foot, if possible.

Frequently there is an ell or a jog in the house wall which will make it convenient to place your shelter in the corner formed by the two walls, provided that this location will work out from the practical standpoint of use, and also that it will look well in the garden. If it gives you privacy and protection from wind, and if it is where its use at night will not disturb sleeping children or elder members of the family, you will find that the use of two existing walls will cut down on the labor required for building and also the expense of materials for construction, saving the cost of several posts and their setting. Jogs or breaks in roof lines also make good places to start or end shelters.