This is our third one, and each time they get a little better. We built this awning off of the barn we live out of in the summer time. It's very simple and very cheap to make AND it works very well. If you want to put up a quick and easy shade awning, this basic design can be adapted to work in many situations...
To start we bought a regular cotton painter's dropcloth from the hardware store along with:
100 ft of nylon clothesline,
4 carabiners,
2 O rings on plates
2 pulleys
1 bottle of Gorilla Glue
1. Rolling out the canvas we cut four 4" squares out of scrap wood and glued them like a sandwich on either side of two corners. This was to prevent easy ripping (some happened in a storm anyway). When dry, we drilled holes through each end.
2. We did the same thing with a few really long pieces on the other end. When dry, we drilled holes through each end.
3. With wood "grommets" on every corner, we then tied loops of clothesline through each, allowing us to hook on carabiners and hoist the awning any way we wanted to.
4. On the barn side we simply climbed up and screwed in a series of O rings with pulleys. We took another long length of clothesline and ran it through all these until we could hook it onto the awning corner.
5. On the ground side we took two pieces of seven foot scrap wood to place under the corner loop and then attached our long bits of clothesline to the loop itself. These two lines were secured to wood stakes in the ground.
With the whole awning easily attachable and durable from four corners, you can put it up or take it down whenever you need to. It won't last forever, of course, but it's affordable, a great DIY project and will get you some shade quick.
Copyright © 2007 Apartment Therapy
you live in a barn. hilarious. can we see inside? it looks cozy.
view snot's profile
How lovely and simple ! I was thinking to fix a shade similar to yours at my balcony, it's just too hot there when the sun shines on it directly, it heats up my apartment and makes me and my cats melt...DIY-project ahead !
view Jany's profile
How cool! I always wanted to live in a barn. Yes, pics - please!!
You said this was your third awning - did you use the drop cloth each time? Something else? Is this working the best so far or did another fabric work better?
I've been considering something to block the direct setting sun from shining on my sliding glass door. The apartment owner has restrictions on color, and my budget has restrictions on price so I appreciate your directions and shopping list.
view oceandreamer56's profile
What?! you actually have a another place to get away to during the summer and on holidays and weekends?! the audacity!
looks great btw, as always.
view -kellen's profile
Cool. Sun out, breezes in.
How do you keep mosquitos and unwanted mammals out?
You should add the 2 tie-off cleats to the supply list.
view Jon_B's profile
For even more sun protection, I have often seen "shade sails" (large triangular pieces) made with Sunbrella material available on overstock.com for very affordable prices. I think for about $50...
view hh's profile
JoAnne fabrisc just had outdoor fabric on sale and I got a ton of cherry red sunbrella to make shade sails for window awnings and a few to put up in my beautiful elm tree for fun.
view lisa2 in austin's profile
I lost a mature ornamental tree in front of my house last winter now this summer the shade loving plants located under the former tree are getting bad sunburns and my sewing studio is hot, hot, hot. I bought one of those triangular shades from Overstock but haven't gotten it up yet. I need to get the handyman I use to help with this project. I want to be able to take the shade down when summer ends so storms don't tear it up. I've imagined blocks of wood bolted onto the fascia board I can hook the sail to and I'll need some sort of pole to support the 3rd corner. I'll need to use this for a few years until the replacement tree has a chance to grow a bit.
view Alice's profile
seconding snot's comment. also, you live in a barn. ROFL. pics please!
view ung's profile
FYI the Year tag for this post is 2008 and it is messing with my RSS reader. Anyone else have to change settings for this?
Kind of confusing since the proper year is at the end of the post.
view sicboater's profile