Make Your Own Drop Cloth Curtains For Your Porch
Make Your Own Drop Cloth Curtains For Your Porch
Want to take your patio decor up a notch? Add a polished look to your porch with these easy, budget-friendly DIY Drop Cloth Curtains.
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In two of the past homes we lived in, I wanted to hang curtains on my back porch.
Unfortunately, I never went through with my idea. Womp! Womp!
We sure could’ve used them on our west-facing porch at our home near Fort Hood.
Curtains would’ve added some much-needed shade for those warm spring and summer afternoons and evenings.
However, when I decided to give my back porch a little upgrade here, drop cloth curtains were high on the list of must-dos!
Did you follow along on my One Room Challenge Back Porch Makeover?
If not, you can get caught up by going to this post where I share where the porch started.
Turns out, hanging drop cloth curtains was a fairly easy process, once I quit overthinking!
Supplies To Hang Drop Cloth Curtains on Your Porch
Supplies:
Drop Cloths ( I used these from Home Depot)
3/4 inch PVC Pipe
Spray Paint (for PVC Pipe and hooks if necessary)
Hooks large enough to hold 3/4 inch PVC Pipe ( I used these from Target)
Tea Cup Hooks
Curtain Tie Backs
Curtain Clip Rings
Drill
Hack Saw or Pipe Cutter
Let’s Hang Some Back Porch Curtains
1. Determine Your Measurements.
Decide how long you need your PVC curtain rods to be.
You can run your rods the full length of the 3 or 4 sides of your porch.
I chose to make my rods shorter so that they don’t span the full length of my porch covering.
One of the reasons I did this was the weight caused by the number of drop cloths necessary to cover the full length of my porch.
Also, I realized that I was going to need a special drill bit to drill the hole for my tie back on the two sides that would’ve been closest to the Hardee plank on the back of my house.
You will also need to know how high you want to hang your rods, based on how long you want the curtains to hang.
2. Cut your PVC pipe to the length that you want each of your rods to be.
Use a hack saw or PVC cutters to cut the PVC pipe.
You may need to sand the ends of each cut pipe because they will have some sharp pieces sticking out.
3. Paint the PVC Pipe and Hooks.
I used black spray paint to paint my PVC Pipe and hooks.
The hooks I bought were a minty green color so they needed to be a darker color to blend in with my brown porch wood.
4. Screw Hooks Into Porch Beams.
Secure hooks to the porch at the desired positions based on your measurements for your rods and your desired drop cloth curtain length.
Since I chose to use shorter rods on 3 sides of my porch, I was able to only use 2 hooks for each rod.
If you have longer rods or want to keep your rods from bowing in the middle, you can use additional hooks to hold the rod in place.
5. Attach Curtain Clips to Drop Cloth Curtains.
I did this really un-scientifically!
I folded my drop cloth in half and put a clip on each end and in the center.
Then I attached a few additional clips at somewhat centered points between the original 3 clips.
These can be adjusted after the curtains are hung.
I think I used 7-8 clips on each of my drop cloths.
6. Place Curtain Clips on PVC rods.
Thread your PVC pipe rod through the circles attached to your curtain clips.
7. Hang PVC Curtain Rods, with Drop Cloth Curtains attached, on the hooks attached to the Porch Beams in step 4.
This may require an extra set of hands!
8. Make any adjustments to the curtain clipsto create even pleats.
I ended up rearranging my curtain clips on almost all of my curtains.
Turns out my eyeballing center wasn’t very accurate!
I even added a few extra clips on a few panels since I had some extras.
9. Decide where to place Tea Cup Hooks to secure Tie Backs and screw them into the post.
Gather Curtains to the side to figure out the best place to secure the hooks so that you can keep your curtains tied back.
Mine are placed about 36″ off the ground.
My Tea Cup Hooks were really easy to screw into my posts by hand.
10. Secure Tie Backs to Tea Cup Hooks andwrap around your Drop Cloth Curtains.
This is the easiest part of the process!
When I first hung my curtains, I hadn’t ordered Tie Backs yet.
I just used some strips of fabric knotted on the Tea Cup Hook and then tied around the curtains.
I love these big knotted Tie Backs I purchased a few weeks ago.
They really provide a finished look to the curtains!
I’ve really loved the softness that these curtains have added to my porch.
The good news is if they get too dirty from the rain and our grass-less backyard, I can purchase more from Home Depot or try to wash the ones I have hanging currently.
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Comments
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For a few dollars more use metal pipe, The metal paint will stick better to it than paint will stick to pvc pipe. Sliding the rings back and forth will remove the paint on the pvc faster.
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I absolutely love creating an outdoor living room and or dining room outside. Expands your home and allows you to enjoy your yard. These curtains add to coziness of family living, and keeps sun out of eyes
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
I think drop cloth curtains inside or outside are very pretty! I put some up on my front porch and the squirrels ate big holes in them. Can yo tell me if anyone else has had this problem or why this happened?