Before we get into this affordable outdoor drapery, here’s a bit of context: Last summer I started One Room Challenge and abandoned ship after I found out that an integral project to continuing this room design wasn’t going to happen. Well, it still hasn’t happened, but, at some point, I couldn’t live in a state of waiting anymore. Here’s the deal. The ceiling of our back porch is not water tight, but it was sold to us as if it was and it’s structured as if it should be. But, due to neglect on some contractor’s part, it’s not. It should be fixed soon, but soon has been put off due to availability for over a year now.
We were holding on several projects back here, like the outdoor rug and the drapery, because we didn’t want to waste time and money on an area that was going to get soaked each time it rains.
Well, I’d finally had enough this summer. While it’s still not watertight, which means I also still haven’t painted the beams black, I decided the time had come to turn this into the outdoor room I wanted it to be. I’ll do a full “room tour” at a later date (y’all, I realize I’ve never even done a home tour!), but, for now, let me do a quick share of our outdoor drapery.
Easy, Affordable Outdoor Drapery
We decided to install outdoor drapery for a few reasons:
- Privacy. We live in the city and our neighbors look right into our back porch. I didn’t want to go total privacy with blackout curtains, but a little diffusion is nice.
- Mosquito Prevention. I realize since these drapes don’t go all the way around that we’re not going to totally prevent mosquitos and flies, but my hope is it will mitigate it.
- Finishing Touch. The rest of this space felt so room-like, but it needed something. Turns out, drapery was it.
I ordered 5 different drapery panels to figure out which was best for our space. The others were all blackout or close to blackout weight because, honestly, that’s what’s out there. After trying all out, I decided that white, yes, white, was the best option and in a sheer weight. I wanted to go with a taupe or gray, but decided that white would feel the most airy and I can bleach it when it gets dirty (over a month in, it’s actually still looking fresh).
So, to get to the burning question that you came here for: What affordable outdoor drapery did we go with?! We ended up installing two of these panels (tip: you want drapery to kiss the ground!) and this drapery rod, which adjusts all the way to 160″ (tip: hang it as high as possible!). The entire project took about 30-45 minutes start to finish, super easy, and, while I won’t get into details because I’m writing about it for another website, let’s just say it was well worth it.
