We recently finished out outdoor pool and couldn’t be happier. We extended out our porch and now have a nice outdoor room by the pool where i can hang out while the kids play. Living in Florida does have it’s perks and sunny is one of them.
During pool construction all I dreamed off was my porch area where I could sit, I can’t be in the sun due to my Lupus but that wouldn’t be an issue since we got a huge insulated roof and the entire pool area would be screened in keeping all the little pesky bugs out, too.
Once pool construction was done and we were ready to enjoy our pool I got a little surprise, we had a lot of sun under the roof where I needed shade for me to hang out. In the morning one side would have sun and then in the afternoon and evening the other side. That wasn’t gonna work for me.
My husband mentioned outdoor curtains would be nice to cover up the sun. I look around online and found many stores with beautiful outdoor curtains, but for the area I needed at least 6 panels and with each panel running $50-$80 I wasn’t gonna splurge that big, I rather stay inside the house I told my husband.
So I looked around and found some outdoor fabric on Fabric.com for like $6 a yard, I needed 12 yards so thats wasn’t bad at all. Only bad thing, I can’t sew! I don’t even own a sewing machine. Our granny was always my go to person for sewing project and since she passed away earlier in the year I kind of have to make do without sewing.
I was determined that I will NOT buy curtains pre-made; I needed a good 12 feet long panels without pre-order that wasn’t anywhere to be found. So I ordered my fabric of choice through fabric.com and picked up Fabric Tac on Amazon. I figured it will hold for the season at least.
The fabric arrived and was AWESOME! Outdoor fabric, that is waterproof, sturdy, colorful and even fade proof and all for like $6/yard. WOW!
I cut my fabric to length and ironed the edges over, about 1 inch on each side, added the Fabric Tac and pressed it down. That’s all! I did that on all four sides for each panel. I did not keep any open space or loops for the curtain panel, further down I’ll show you how I handled that.
Once I had all my panels “glued” I was gonna hang them with curtain rings, but I quickly changed my mind when I couldn’t find a package of curtain rings for under $10 and I again, needed at least 1pack per panel. Wasn’t gonna happen!
I looked around the house and found an old spool of ribbon, I figured, well I glued the sides of the panels why not use the ribbon and use it as my taps and in the end I would have pleated panel curtains, sounded good, right? Well.. let me tell you, it worked beautifully! So easy and looks amazing!!
I cut enough ribbon, to have about 8 (every 2-3 inches) loops for my curtain rod to make it look pleated. Glued the top and bottom of the ribbon onto my fabric panel and let them dry. I ended up using a staple to staple the top of each ribbon to the fabric for extra security. No one will see it but it holds up well.
That’s how I finished my no sew DIY curtains, outdoor curtains to boot. All for under $100.00 for 6 panels!! Can’t be beat.
Once it was time to hang my curtains I again was surprised how expensive curtain rods can be. I needed an odd length 10 feet and since it would be outside I really didn’t want metal that could rust. I decided to look around the hardware store like Lowes and Home Depot and found ¾ inch PVC pipes in the plumbing section, perfect choice, was like $3 for a 10 ft. pipe, I took 2! They are very lightweight, perfect to hang on a porch, no worry about rusting or rotting since it’s PVC.
While I was at the hardware store I also picked up clamps to hang the pipe, I found those in the electrical department at the Home Depot and was about $3 for a pack of 4 I think. Super affordable, just make sure your PVC pipe fits through the clamp, they have different sizes. I asked an employee if you could open a package to see if mine would fit.
Once I was home, hubby drilled the clamps into our metal screen and that was it! 5 minutes later I had my curtains all up and they have been there all summer. My pool lady raves about them every time I see her and she loves how “formal” and professional they look, little does she know I spend about $100 including hardware, liquid stitch/ glue and fabric on all 6 curtain panels and now my porch looks like a million bucks!
The sun and even rain stays out of the deck area and I can now enjoy my kids playing in the pool even in the middle of the day and don’t have to worry about the sun causing a lupus flare.
What ya think… love them? I know you can do it, too. Super easy! They can be washed and well in case the glue comes undone, they are outside in the Florida humidity after all, I can always re-apply a little more of the liquid glue… What more do you want?
Enjoy your great outdoors for a fraction of the cost and less stress! #DIY project can be so easy and fun
Don’t forget to check out all my #DIY ideas and home remodels, I love coming up with new ideas on a budget that are easy to re-create.
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