The Making of Becky’s Bedouin Balcony

The Making of Becky’s Bedouin Balcony
September 2005

Last October I had the bright idea of transforming my rather ho-hum balcony into a Bedouin sitting area. The transformation was slow but well worth the wait. The space started out with two weathered metal chairs and a table to match. The flooring of the balcony consisted of the green miniature golf carpeting. My vision was to have cushions and pillows on the floor and to hang brightly colored sheer material to billow in the mountain breeze.

I kept that vision in the back of my mind until spring time of this year when the weather started to warm up allowing me to retreat to my secluded get away on the weekends. The chairs and table are functional but I wanted to make this a special retreat.

The start of any Bedouin sitting area consists of covered foam cushions for the floor. They are rectangular in shape, about 3 ft by 8 ft, and come in traditional designs or animal prints. Of course I opted for the traditional designs and purchased 2. Next come the large matching pillows and I got two to use as back support for the cushions at the same store. By the way, you should of seen Michele and I try to stuff 4 of these long, stiff cushions and 5 rather heavy and bulky pillows into a taxi. I bet the taxi driver found his rear view mirror useless at this point – but then again, do they even use the mirror while driving here?

Sad as I was to cover the miniature golf flooring, I thought my picnic rug would do the job and it really adds something special to the ambiance. For the table top, I picked up an Indian cloth last fall and this fall I was able to find matching pillow covers; perfect for the two chairs.

The last big detail was how to incorporate the billowing pieces of sheer material? Hanging them would be the tricky part but yet, I didn’t want to block or impede the view of the inner arboretum with the lovely trees, palm trees, oleander bushes, and large geraniums plants. My solution was to drape material over the left and right walls that come up to about 4 feet. The front wall is a plastic panel and allows for more viewing area and I didn’t want to block that. Then I could place candles on top of the material for weight and flair. At the tent souq I found a nice piece of woven cotton with colored stripes for one side by the pillows and cushions and a sheer black piece with highlights of aqua blue and silver for the other side.

For the candle holders I already had four small tea cups made of pottery I got in Abha and noticed them in the souq too. I wasn’t able to find the matching pieces but did find some other pieces of pottery a little more practical for outside. They look like the bottom part of a flower plot. I bought four of them, two for each side, and the owner threw in another one as the hadeyya (gift) and a small metal pot I was admiring. I was excited to return home and add the finishing touches to Becky’s Bedouin Balcony. Because the wind can be fierce at times I wanted to add weight to the pots and thought barley would do the trick. What was I thinking? For the most part it works fine but the small metal pot did blow over and all the millions of tiny barley kernels now laid on the cushions and picnic rug. Now I had to engineer a way to keep the shorter part of the material from flying up and over on the clay pots knocking them over. If I was back in the states I would get fishing lures to attach on the edges. Here I decided to use my foreign coins from past trips and attach several using the black binder clips. To add some color I got big beaded tassels the African ladies sell at their tables in the souq. I am pleased with the results but I still need to add more weight. Case in point, just yesterday after writing this I noticed the wind was already blowing with gusto and decided to take in the candles and black material on the right side of the balcony. I thought the left side had enough weight on it to withstand the breeze. Turns out no, I got home and everything that was on the left side was now on the cushions and floor including over 3 million tiny pieces of barley. Yes, more weight is needed and something besides barely.

Michele was my first guest over to relax on the balcony one evening. I was very pleased with the result but needed more candle light. The little tea votives in the flat clay pots could not be seen while sitting on the cushions so my next step will be to get glass containers of some sort and place them on the clay dish. I did see the ideal glassware for this and they are small fish bowls. Again, I would fill the bowl with something heavy and then place the candle in that allowing more light and protection from the wind. For additional light, I also placed 4 candles on the floor in front of the plastic panel. Now I need a place like Yankee Candle Factory for my supply of candles. Or I might just have to make my own candles – yeah, right. Future additions will include a decorative and functional shisha pipe and low to the ground wooden tables. Sounds like more shopping to me! The balcony is now open. Please come by any time for a visit and a cup of Bedouin tea and shisha – you might not want to leave after this.