deck

DiY Pergola Curtains

Yippeeeeeee! I’m finally finished with my one summer craft that I REALLY wanted to complete before summer was out. I made curtains for our pergola to make our deck feel more welcoming. The deck is very large and we Jeffrey added a privacy surround this summer in addition to the pergola. There was a lot of wood going on and I wanted to soften it up by using fabric. We had breezy sheers out there last year but it is insanely windy where we live and they were constantly tangling. I saw a tutorial on how to make your own pergola curtains on A Beautiful Mess and knew I had to give it a try.

Pergola CurtainsLaura did such a phenomenal job on her tutorial that I don’t think it warranted the ‘Epic Projects (Advanced)’ tag that it has. It was a long process, which would have been even longer if I was doing more than the two panels I did, but it was a very straight forward process. All of the materials were easy to find locally and much more inexpensive than buying heavy duty outdoor curtains. **UPDATE** If you live in a very windy area, these will still not be heavy enough curtains. I suggest adding more weights or figuring out a more permanent solution to softening up your area. I tried multiple tie-back methods, none of which worked permanently. Every few days I had to re-tie the curtains (especially during rainy season).

Materials Needed:
Heavy fabric -I used 6 yards* (depending on how windy it is where you’re located)
Fabric scissors
Grommet kit (total grommets used 14)
Cup hooks 7/8″ (14)
Safety cup hooks (4)
White chain
Hammer
Bolt Cutters (to cut the chain)
Sewing machine (unless you want to hand sew)
Waterproofing spray**

*You’ll want to measure the height and width of your pergola and determine how drapey you want your fabric before buying your fabric. You could also skip the waterproofing step and buy outdoor fabric but it will be more expensive. If you are doing many panels, you may have to order your fabric from your fabric store because they don’t often carry several bolts of the same fabric. **I used Scotch Guard but it has not been tested. The reviews on Amazon were all the research I did for choosing what type of fabric waterproofing spray to use.

Pergola CurtainsYou’ll likely need to sew hems on all sides of your fabric. If you are not confident with a sewing machine, I’ve used strong heat n’ bond on curtains before but never outside, so you’ll be taking a risk. I made all of the hems the same width other than the top hem where the grommets will go. I used a grommet to measure how wide I wanted the top hem.

Pergola CurtainsI’m not a numbers girl so I didn’t measure anything until it came to adding the grommets (only because I screwed up one section by not measuring.) A trick I used, to make sure it was an even hem all the way across, was to line up my first set of pins as shown.

Pergola CurtainsAdding the grommets was the most fun part. Follow the instructions on the back of your grommet kit (in case it’s different than mine.) Make a small X with your scissors in the location you want your grommet. Do not make your X too large, start small and make it larger if necessary. Be sure to use some force while hammering your anvil to get the grommet nice and snug. I found this part quite therapeutic!

Pergola CurtainsOnce all of the hems are sewn and the grommets are added, it’s time to add the cup hooks to the pergola. As I said before, I didn’t measure out where my grommets went, so I added the outside hooks first. I knew the area I wanted the curtain to span so I drilled tiny holes and screwed in the two outside cup hooks first.

Pergola Curtains

Once those were up I hung the curtain so I could hold up where the grommets met the board and used them as a template to drill my holes. If you measure out where you put your grommets, you’ll be able to measure where you should drill for your hooks.

Pergola Curtains

Things are looking amazing now! The next step was to figure out where I wanted the tie backs. Since I knew how windy it is, I chose to do my tiebacks a bit higher than I normally would, so there would be a lot of fabric hanging down under the chain. I drilled two small holes on either side of the 4×4, screwed in the safety hooks and hung the chain.

Pergola Curtains

Before cutting the chain, I let my curtains be outside all afternoon. I wanted to make sure the chain was going to be a good way to keep my curtains secure. I simply snipped the chain before repeating this step on the other curtain panel. You could also use rope or make a strip of fabric to bring in a pop of color. I think it would be cute to have a bright teal or yellow strip of fabric and use a grommet on each end to attach to the safety hooks.

Pergola CurtainsNow that the curtains are hung, I left them up to spray the waterproofing on each side of the panels. I left them flying in the wind for a day to dry out completely. This portion was difficult for me because of the wind. If you can, choose a day that’s not windy and not going to rain.

Pergola CurtainsPergola CurtainsI love it so much! I feel like it makes our area more welcoming and a bit more resort like. I am extremely excited to sit out on the deck in a few weeks once it cools off and into the fall when we’ll need sweaters and apple cider to keep warm. There’s still a bit more I’d like to do in the way of styling but that will have to wait until the fall flowers come to the nursery. How have you dressed up your outdoor area? Do you add fun pillows or rugs to bring in a pop of color? I love that!

Outdoor Living

Sprucing up our outdoor living areas has been on my brain every day since the snow started melting. Before the new year started, we said ‘this is the year we’re going to relax and take advantage of all the hard work we’ve my husband has done building the deck and pergola.’ My job is decorating an area once it’s been built by him. Unfortunately, outdoor decor seems to be REALLY expensive! Especially once you factor in that there’s really only a few months where the weather is bearable enough to sit outside!

outdoor living

Here is what our deck currently looks like. This is before the table and chairs (that are in the mail!) It’s also before it’s new stain job that we’ll be getting in a few weeks.

deck

Sad, right? No pretty flowers adding color. No rug, umbrella or curtains to make the space more comfortable. We did buy an outdoor table and chairs this year to add to our collection but out of everything I’d LIKE to add to our front porch, back porch and deck, we’ve got a long way to go. In the mean time I decided to swoon over what I’d like to be able to purchase for our deck area.

Outdoor Fun
We’re more in the price range of Target, which is why these items from Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn are wishes. 😉 I think all of these things would make for a comfortable, practical and fun area to hang out with friends on summer nights.
  1. Number one most important item to have a comfortable outdoor area is a big sectional. Sectionals are outrageously expensive, no matter where you get them from. This one looked particularly good for reading a book or napping. 😉
  2. Bright yellow pouf for extra seating or a place to put your feet up.
  3. Garden stool for putting your drinks down or a place to prop your feet.
  4. Bright, happy, colorful pillows that can stand being out in the sun and rain.
  5. String lights to add to the evening’s good vibes.
  6. Wall O’ Flowers to add tons of color and hide the giant wall of siding.
  7. This bar-work station would be an awesome multitasking piece for our deck. I could use it to re-pot plants, display plants and use as a bar cart for BBQs.
  8. Modular nesting tables that would be easy to move around for convenience.
  9. Bold rug because I don’t like wearing shoes and to ground the sitting area.
  10. Outdoor pendant for the pergola that would blend into it’s environment but add lighting for meals and games at night.
  11. Lanterns to stage around the deck for ambiance lighting.

*swoon* I think after 5 years we could afford all of this for the deck, but by then my tastes will change, and I’ll be dreaming of something different! Also, it’s kinda outrageous to spend this much on one area of our house.

Wanna know the total? The total is with ONE of everything…not a whole wall of planters (including flowers), not several pillows, strings of lights or lanterns…just one of everything pictured above. Drum roll please. $5,838 +tax. Easily a week in Paris! I’ll keep dreaming for now. What about you guys? Have you done any outdoor decor shopping lately? Where do you shop? I could use to cut this number back by…way over half! Anyone lucky enough to have more than a few months worth of awesome outdoor weather? Jeal.

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