During nice weather, our porch is one of the most-used "rooms" of the house. Even during the work week when we're not home much, we at least try to eat dinner out there whenever possible.
There used to be a tree on the west side of the house that would make nice shade on the porch in the early evening hours, but that tree got struck by lightning and had to be taken down. So now at dinner time when we want to eat at the porch table, there's all this blinding hot sun beating down right there. This has been our temporary solution:
Yep, a grungy old blanket. It gets the job done, but it sure isn't pretty. Let's get a close-up of that mounting hardware:
Right. That would be a hemostat hanging from a nail. Of course. How else would you hang up a curtain that's actually a ratty old blanket? Hey, I never claimed we were classy, just resourceful.
Anyway, I have a plan for a much cuter solution to our sun/shade problem, and the first step was a trip to IKEA this morning.
A few quick seams on this fabric (sometime this week...) and BOOM, instant curtain. This red checkered fabric is sure to add to the cozy cafe vibe we have going on in that corner of the porch. And yes, it will be hanging from an actual, real curtain rod! With finials, even. Crazy.

