Tuesday, May 20, 2008

New Patio/Balcony Shade Screen!

I was really busy this weekend. I must be nuts! It was well into the high nineties and I was out on my balcony building a shade screen to protect my plants from sunburn. I think it turned out pretty good though! Bruce suggested that I only build it so high, saving the both of us from balancing precariously from the third floor railing to hang it.

I went to Home Depot early Sunday morning and came back with the following supplies: a roll of shade fabric in a lovely sandy shade, 5 wood supports - 2" x 1" and 3 feet long, metal tacks designed to hook the fabric to wood (a staple gun would have been better), and electrical ties (think that's the name!). I got home and started building. I made myself nuts, sweating and swearing as I scraped my arm, stepped on my hammer and experienced many other mishaps. I had to redo it a couple of times too, which really ticked me off, but there it is, finished. Yes, it could be better, but my husband is really proud of me. He called me from downstairs especially to tell me how good it looked. He was really impressed and I did it all myself, except for having someone hold one end, so it wouldn't fall over the side of the balcony while I tied it. It comes up about three feet from the balcony ledge. I love having privacy while I play with my plants. Here's another picture, and I'll try to add an evening picture later. The flower lights look really cool against the shade screen at night. They sort of glow.

2 comments:

Julie said...

You are very DYI! I am impressed!!! Your lights do look pretty in front of the screen! Great job!

Kelly said...

Thanks Julie! :O)