DIY Outdoor Curtains in One Day for under $70

After four years, see the Update to these Outdoor Curtains. 

Under the deck we have a patio, which is a perfect place to sit except for a couple hours in the evening when the sun blares in.  We loved the look and practicality of outdoor curtains, but not the price. 

After a trip to Lowe’s, less than $70 and an afternoon, we wound up with these.


For the actual curtain, we used painters drop cloths attached to clip-on curtain rings. The drop cloths are pre-hemmed canvas that come in a variety of sizes and weights.

Here’s how we did it.

For each curtain we used

• 2-floor flanges
• 2-90 degree street elbows
• length of pipe

We screwed the street elbow onto the pipe, then screwed the floor flange onto the street elbow

Before attaching the second floor flange, we slid the curtain rings onto the pipe.
Next, we determined how high we needed the rod to be.  We did not want the curtains touching the patio or the ground. 
Then, Ryan attached the rod to the outside of the deck, making sure it was level.  We chose a shorter rod, because we only needed the curtain to be 4 feet wide to give us the sun blockage in the afternoon.  This set up is strong and sturdy enough to support a much longer pipe. You could do chin ups on this bar (…you could, I can’t.)




After the rod was hung, it was a simple matter of attaching the fabric to the curtain rings

and then putting in some brass cup hooks for the tie backs.

They’ve been up for over a month now and are doing very well.  We’ve had some big winds and thunderstorms, which they have been fine through.  Unfortunately, they have been getting regularly watered by the sprinklers recently.  There is a bit of mildew on them, but nothing horrible.  I plan on bringing them in this winter. I’ll give them a good bleaching and treat them with a water repellant spray before rehanging them next spring.

Not only can we open them up to block the sun, we like the finishing touch it gives to the space.  A fun and easy project!

Linked to A Bowl Full of Lemons and Wow Us Wednesday.