Using tarps to make DIY backyard shelter

Our garden is dying, we’re getting sunburnt while swimming in the pool, and worst of all, there’s no shade above the barbecue! But it’s not all bad news, and we’ve got a great solution that has allowed us to actually enjoy the heatwave!

We moved from Bordeaux to the French countryside late last year, into a house with a large backyard. The current European heatwave has been a real shock, so a couple of days ago I pulled out a couple of our WAY&FARER tarps and set them up in the backyard, and it’s been an absolute game-changer!

Creating a quick pool shelter with our new UV-resistant lightweight tarp

The house that we moved into has a pool in the backyard, but we can hardly take advantage of it and certainly can’t take our baby for a swim during the day as it’s just far too sunny.

I don’t want an all-year-round shelter and I wasn’t keen on driving an hour to the timber store to by some long posts to create a strong structure for the shelter, but our new lightweight tarp that we’ve only just made available for sale (in both Europe and Australia) was the perfect solution as it’s light a needs little support.

This tarp has a UV-resistant layer, guy-ropes are included, and as it weighs less than a kilogram, making it super easy to set up with a DIY structure.

I had some tree branches lying around, so I simply tied them to the pool and used them to pitch the tarp.

The entire setup took me less than half an hour, and now we can swim in the pool without getting burned, all day. However, if you’re thinking of doing the same thing, I do still recommend that you slap on some Australian-made water-resistant sunscreen to be safe.

EDIT: Please see the note at the end of this post – added on the 17th of July, 2026.

Fast & Easy DIY BBQ shelter

There’s not much that I love more than cooking some snags on the barbecue at the end of the day, but the fun is taken out of it when the heatwave is in full force.

I took this old canvas tarp that we’ve been testing for years and tied some ropes to each corner to make a shelter with-in about 5-10 minutes: problem solved!

Note: this tarp looks worse-for-ware, but believe me, it’s had a hard life! We originally used it for camping and have been testing it’s durability ever since. It’s been in the sun, snow, heavy rain and strong winds permanently for three years, and all that’s happened is the colour has started to fade. When it’s not being used as a sun shelter, it’s either covering the lawn mower or thrown on the ground for our baby daughter to play on. In Bordeaux, it was a dependable bike cover that never let a drop of water make it’s way through the tough fabric.

This is what our canvas tarps usually look like – this is the 2×2 metres forest tarp and we have them available in 21 sizes across two colours.

Easy DIY Backyard Shelter

One of our recent customers attached our large 6×3 metre Kimberley tarp to an existing structure in his backyard and created a quick, easy and affordable DIY shelter, perfect for handling the hot conditions across Europe at the moment. When winter comes around, it’ll keep the space below dry, perfect for backyard entertaining all year round.

He’s told us that this is just stage one and he’ll make some further adjustments to it soon. Once we have some new photos, I’ll update this blog post – follow us on Instagram as we’ll share them there too.

Using a canvas tarp to protect the garden

At the moment, our vegetables and herbs are getting punished by the afternoon sun, so when the next cool day is upon us, I’m going to use one or a couple of our smaller tarps to protect the garden.

Rather than creating an overhead shelter, I’ll set up something like a 1x2m or 1.5x2m canvas tarp to create a wall that runs alongside the garden beds.

All I’ll need to do is bang in a few stakes into the ground on the side of the vegetable garden that’s exposed to the harsh sun, then attach the tarp with the handy brass eyelets that are clinched along each side of the tarp and in the corners. The eyelets are reinforced, so there’s no concern of leaving the tarp pitched in strong winds.

By doing this, the sun won’t burn the garden or dry out the precious water.

Stay tuned, as I’ll make a new blog post to show you what it looks like.

If you have any questions about creating a backyard shelter with our range of tarps, be sure to leave a comment below or you can contact me here.

Best of luck keeping cool in the European heatwave and to our Australian followers, my family has been telling me that there’s too much rain – so shout out if you need a tarp or two to escape the rain!

Cheers, Guy

EDIT – 17/07/2026:
The lightweight tarp that we used for the pool shelter was a great idea as it has a UV protective layer and was super easy to pitch, but it’s not a durable, long-lasting option like canvas. This tarp can’t handle strong winds and when a storm hit, it ripped the tarp at the seams – we’ve since upgraded to a canvas DIY pool shelter and wrote about it on our blog, today.