All month long, our Apartment Therapy editorial team have been working hard to put together our Dream Outdoor Rooms. Although it's nice to dream, we're bigger fans of easy projects that can quickly become reality — like this outdoor canopy!
If your budget is small and spending a weekend constructing some giant roof to shield your guests (or even just yourself) from the sun isn't on the agenda, try this simple tent construction instead.
This set up can be found over at This Old House, where fabric is draped between poles that are sunk in the ground. Cables from each pole keep things upright and can be anchored to the ground with tent spikes. It's a simple fix that makes the set up easy to set up, tear down and take with you anywhere you wish!
(via: This Old House)
(Image: Dan Duchars for This Old House)
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I love this concept! I actually have a post on my blog today about inspring outdoor rooms! Especially with the holiday weekend coming up - we naturally think about outdoors, friends/family and entertaining. The best part is, you can stay as casual or formal as you'd like. Thanks for the post!
i have always wanted to do this!! where would you find "poles" though? lowes?
Although you could try Lowes, our first suggestion would be check a military surplus and supply store in your area. They quite often just have poles you can purchase individually without having to pay for fancy packaging that you might at Lowes or other hardware/camping stores.
I loooooove this. Love. But what if you wanted to build it over a non-grass surface? e.g. cement?
Gypsy--The This Old House website links to a company called "Bamboo fencer" where it looks like they sell the appropriate bamboo poles for about $9 each.
My other question is, the TOH website doesn't really give any sort of direction on how to do this (unless I am missing it). They suggest the poles and where to get them and they also suggest using a canvas drop cloth. But how on earth would you attach the poles to the drop cloth?
Grommets!
Grommets, yes, but then what?
I would suggest grommeting the corners of the fabric (or sewing in a metal ring by folding over the corner of the cloth over the ring and sewing it down), and if your poles aren't point enough, attach something slender to the end for the grommets to slide over. You can paint the entire pole when you're all done so it looks like one piece!
To make it happen over a concrete area, try sinking the poles in pails filled with concrete or clay!
can i just say how long i have wanted to be able to have an outdoor dinner party with a tent, lanterns, wine and great friends? well i'm still waiting. =/
HouseBee, I have the same question... Maybe you have to put a stopper of sorts on the poles?
My husband and I did this! It was easy! We got wood poles from Lowe's, 4 metal screw hooks (with a little latch on it), outdoor fabric, grommets, and some concrete.
The grommets were really easy to hammer into the fabric at all four corners, then you cut the fabric out inside the circle of the grommet. Then we dug about a three-foot deep pole (not too wide, maybe about 8 inches across), stuck in the pole, some concrete about three-quarters of the way up, then covered back up with dirt. The concrete REALLY stabilized the poles and made them sturdy, and I don't think they will be too hard to remove with a little digging and a hammer & pick.
The hooks were screwed right to the top of the poles, and then we hooked the fabric on! Make sure the curve of the hook faces inward, and the latch faces outward. (You could spray paint the pole and the hooks so they coordinate and look finished as sarahrae suggested).
Easy, this is a good afternoon project you can have done in time for dinner! You could even use some string lights to hang around the edges of the canopy, just make sure you get the hooks with the little latches and they will hold the canopy AND the string lights right in place!
Here's an easy grommet tutorial for you to install grommets in the corners of your drop cloth. If you look closely at the poles, there are small cables or twine attached to the top of the pole and then anchored in the ground, pulling the poles outward to stand up.
http://curbly.com/modhomeecteacher/posts/4275-diy-ten-minute-grommet-workshop
@ Housebee - You could fill old plant pots with concrete halfway and then a layer of pebbles for drainage then a layer of dirt so you could plant flowers or herbs or climbers for the poles.
I cut 4 pieces of PVC pipe to fit inside 4 - 5 gallon buckets, then poured in concrete about 1/4 of the way up. Then I cut 4 long lengths of bamboo (I grow it) and drilled a hole through one end of each piece. I used copper wire to connect a tarp (for the time being) to the tops of the bamboo, then put them into each piece of PVC in each bucket, then filled the buckets with water for more stability.
They're portable and easy to break down - great for a yard sale in unpredictable weather!
You can also find bamboo poles by going to amazon.com and searching for “bamboo poles” (without the quotation marks). I found 73 results today. I’ve had good luck buying things from amazon.com as long as I make sure that the seller and shipper are both amazon.com and not one of its Marketplace sellers. Be sure to read the reviews. Even when I don't make the actual purchase from amazon, I frequently learn very helpful information from reading reviews.
I’ve found good information about selection fabric manufacturers at thatawningguy.com/fabric-awning-companies.