Over the summer we attended a party, where the hosts had umbrellas mounted to their deck. Mark & I both thought this would be a good solution to our problem, so we set out to buy a few tilting umbrellas & mount them to the deck.
Basically, after purchasing the umbrellas, we decided on their placement. We mounted them on the larger deck posts in the bump out. Next, my husband added two of the fasteners (seen below) to the deck, where the bottom & middle of the umbrella would hit.
![Mounting a Deck Umbrella Mounting a Deck Umbrella](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-deQZj8qXXWI/UlRSRIFiOYI/AAAAAAAAD20/Pt8k4SZKyi4/IMG_7792_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800)
Mark added a nail below the bottom fastener to keep the umbrella from falling through.
![Mounting a Deck Umbrella Mounting a Deck Umbrella](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ihUW_vOAa28/UlRSSKcu18I/AAAAAAAAD3E/yc7pK8YgEq8/IMG_7789_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800)
Once the hardware was installed, we slid the umbrellas through.
![Deck Mounted Umbrellas Deck Mounted Umbrellas](http://lh5.ggpht.com/-kEKVPxKzQC4/UlRST9lBxdI/AAAAAAAAD3U/mdTJhKTuBgY/IMG_7793_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800)
These definitely help the problem during dinner time. We also think the opened umbrellas kept our house cooler during the day, since they were blocking the sun. Win, win!