No Sew Outdoor Curtains

We have a nice covered patio out back. We really love this space (let's be real the patio was one of the biggest reasons we bought our house). However it gets pretty hot out there in the summers. I've always wanted patio curtains out there but lets face it outdoor curtains are really, really, really expensive. So I opted for a bunch of canvas drop cloths.

Each of these packages contains TWO...yes you heard me TWO drop clothes! Each pack was only $10.88!

The next biggest expense was going to be curtain rods. Our patio is pretty big. We figured it was going to cost us a small fortune in curtain rods...but while browsing our local Home Depot (date night!) we saw some electrical conduit...which happens to almost be the same size as a curtain rod for a lot less! So we bought four of those bad boys and some curtain rod hangers and we were in business.

Please ignore my fan...it's disgusting. I've tried to get it clean but it really doesn't want to be. Which is why it's going to be replaced....it's pretty ugly too.

We had a bit of a debate on how we were going to hang these wonderful and glorious curtains. Hubs One option: trim all the drop clothes and sew a sleeve and then just slide it over the pole...too much work for me. My option: buy the curtain rings with alligator clips on them and we can remove them as necessary. We went back and forth a bit. Would the clips hold the fabric in a bad storm and we weren't home to take them down. If we did the sleeve would the whole curtain and rod rip off if there was a storm. (we get a lot of storms and some serious wind) In the end I won with the clips! And they're amazing!

We just folded the excess cloth over and clipped the fabric in regular intervals and what do you know its perfect! The curtain ring clips can even withstand two kids pulling on the curtains and racing through them as fast as they can.

It's blocks the afternoon sun from hitting the tv so unwatchable. Gives us some shade so we can extend out time outside with the little ones.

You can even enclose the covered patio for a bit of a cabana feel! We're definitely getting our monies worth from these curtains.

I also can't wait to use the curtains this fall and winter as insulation from the colder weather!

Wall Mounted Beer Bottle Opener

My husband and I love to try new beers. Whenever we have a party everyone ends up bringing over bottled beer. We're constantly trying to remember to bring a bottle opener out to the patio and to find all the bottle caps that fall off tables so the dog and kids don't step on them. 

So when I saw this wall mounted bottle opener on Pinterest I knew I HAD to make one for our patio. 

Luckily I had done several other small wood working projects so I already had several scraps of wood to choose from.  I ordered both the Bottle Opener and the Cap Collector from Amazon. Thanks to my Prime Membership shipping was free with two day delivery! 

So I gathered my supplies and headed outside to get working.

I started by cutting the wood using a circular saw. I cut it to 14 inches in length. The box for the bottle opener said there needed to be 7 inches from the bottom of the opener to the top of the cap collector. 

(photo props to the hubs...thanks for not telling me my hair looked Medusa's on that windy day.)

Then I had my trusty 2 year old rough up the wood a bit with a hammer. 

Then I sanded down the rough edges with a handheld sander.

Our patio accent color is blue so I decided to use Cerulean blue acrylic paint. Again I enlisted my 2 year old assistant for help. (Which resulted in paint on my craft table.)

Once the pain was dry I chose a font I liked on my computer to use for the lettering. I decided on Brush Script and enlarged the font size to 144. 

I then taped on the paper onto the piece of wood and traced the letters and drew in some diagonal lines as well using a ball point pen. This will leave a small indent in the wood so I know where to paint.

I raided my supply of acrylic paints for the white I used for the lettering as well as black for the shadowing.

Sorry for the blurry images. I could have sworn I took a few more pictures.

Eek! Another blurry one...

Once that was dry I went outside with my can of Minwax PolyShades in Bombay Mahogany Gloss (I already owned) to stain the piece of wood over the acrylic paint. I used one of the old t-shirts in our rag bin and just blotted the stain all over.

After I let it sit for about 5 minutes then I used a dry clean rag to wipe off an excess stain. 

Once it was dry I used my handy sander again to sand a few spots back down to the wood around the edges. Then I marked my holes to drill the opener and cap collector onto the wood. And that was all it took to make this beautiful bottle opener for the patio. 

Unfortunately it's too cold outside to sit and enjoy a few beers with our friends but until it is warm enough this baby will be sitting on the kitchen counter.

The total cost of this project:

Bottle Opener: $5.49

Cap Collector: $5.85

Wood: already owned

Paints: already owned

Stain: already owned

Total: $11.34