Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Patio Curtains

Funky tree decoration from the Redmond Antique coop.


We are in the process of turning our patio into an outdoor living area, to be used not only in the the summer but winter as well. I was at the point where I needed to start thinking about outdoor drapes, so I set myself up with a budget and away I went shopping online and going to the local stores everything I came up with was like double+ what my budget was. I didn't want to get to discouraged right in the beginning of this quest. So I went on-line and typed in frugal outdoor drapes. Here is what popped up; (on a side note I will post the sites at the end of this post) A person who has a blog that explains how to make drapes out of medical bedsheets you order on-line from a medical supply house in qty's of a dozen. DONE! So they only come in white I wanted a tan/earthy color her suggestion was to dye them with Tea, IN THE PROCESS!


Fabric in tea dye, with a plate in the middle used as a weight.

I asked Glenn to put up the hardware for me this past weekend so it would be up when I started sewing the panels, DONE! Thanks Glenn I really like how it looks, your the best!!








Glenn helping me with the "hardware stuff".


I am on day 4 of dyeing the curtain panel's, looking on the "net" it states to leave the cloth in the tea mixture for 12 hours I am leaving it in there for 24 hours with that I am getting a very faint tan color, perfect for what I am wanting. The sheets are not a thick as I would like but I am OK with that I will have to figure out how to put weights on the bottom to hold them from blowing in the wind, and such. I guess I will try the fabric store for weights to see what they have.
It is now a week later and I am done with all the tea dyeing. I am going to the store tomorrow to purchase fishing weights, to sew on the bottoms of the drapes to keep them from blowing in the wind. Well the fishing weights work OK but I needed to add more panels so they fell closer together so back to tea dyeing 6 more sheets. When I am finished I will have used the entire dozen but it will look so pretty hanging in the winter air.

All done with the sewing I used 1 and 1/2 spools of thread, I couldn't believe it. But 90" adds up when you times it by 12 sheets right. I am so pleased with the final result of my outdoor drapes, take a look. What do you think.

Well now that I have that done I need to start thanking about what I am going to do with the lighting and the walls. I will let you know when I start on those projects but for now I will enjoy the curtains with the patio heater on high and the music of Chicago or maybe Santana playing in the background.


Grandpa and Lucy enjoying the outdoors before dinner


View from inside the house


Corner where the curtain meet.

I can't wait to see what we do for the lighting and such.

Web site I got my inspiration from;

http://frugalluxuries.blogspot.com/

4 comments:

Hazelrah said...

What a great idea! The curtains look beautiful and it adds some spice to your patio!

Monica said...

Hi, I love your patio curtains! I am thinking of doing this on my front porch. Could you tell me how you did the hardware?
Thanks!
Monica

Betty said...

Hi Monica, I just saw your comment sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. I will ask my husband tonight so I can give you the correct names of the stuff my husband used. We just love the addition of the patio curtains we use them year-round. Betty

Joy's 1 of a kind said...

Love it...as you know our patio is our favorite room. Our house in Moses Lake had drapes that I made out of canvas drop cloths..chain in the bottom keeps them from blowing too. At our new home in Hermiston we have built a patio...we have some roll-up screens for shade. my two favorite outdoor lighting ideas are...a table lamp..really gives the feel of a room. but, I also have hanging clear bulb string lights. they cast a warm glow (on a timer)..and a chandelier...love it!. its so unexpected. (and a flat screen tv hanging). take a look at my FB picture...good luck..you will love this area of your home...Joy