New Found Love of Drop Cloth

     Recently I decided i was going to give my front much a much needed make-over. It has always been kinda drab. No new furniture, no pillows to add pops of color except a couple of old cushions I had bought years ago. Even those have seen better days. Our porch faces South West and gets bright, HOT sun all day from noon on. Even tho it has a roof, it almost always is too hot to sit out there and enjoy it.
     So I decided to buckle down and get to work. I started researching ways I could block the sun from cooking us when we were on the porch. I seen picture after picture of curtains hung on a porch, and fell in love.Look HERE and HERE. They looked so lovely and romantic billowing in the wind. I also read many people were already enjoying the virtues of  Drop Cloth. Most of the pics I seen of outdoor curtains were done with drop cloths. I always thought drop cloth was probably just a cheap sheeting of some kind to use while painting a throw away. I have never seen them in person. After enjoying these lovely photo's, I went to Home Depot to buy my own. I bought the Everbilt brand that had two cloths 6x9 feet for around $10. I had every intention of making drapes to hand near my columns  on my porch. I washed and dried one package  and hung them up for inspection and trial run over a clothes line. Now I knew it wouldnt look that great draped over a string near my porch ceiling, but i was just testing it. My husband came out and looked at it, and immediately let out a "Hell No!" he absolutely did not want drapes on the front porch for all to see,lol. Well I decided to try to come up with a compromise since I still wanted to be able to use the porch . so back to the computer I went. After researching, I decided to make Roman shades for the porch. If mounted high up next the the ceiling on the inside, the foot high support beam would easily cover most of it while pulled up and then could easily be let down when needed. Plus the added benefit of being protected more from the sun and weather. Although I did read that someone said their curtains were going on 5 yrs old and still looked good. They just gave them a washing at the start of the season. Others also mentioned they sprayed theirs with a water protectant. Someone else even made a beautiful white slipcover for their couch from drop cloth by bleaching them. Look HERE. Drop cloth has a beautiful beige linen look, before bleaching. A nice weight similar to outdoor fabric.
    Well I have my four packages of drop cloth with 2 to a pack, I still have to buy some small metal rings and some 1" flat metal bars to weight the bottom of the blinds, and I am ready to go.
     Outdoor pillows right now at Joanns are $12 something for about a 16" pillow at 50% off. Outdoor fabric runs about $10 a yard with their current 50% off sale. with one yard of fabric at $10, I can make SIX 18" throw pillows if I back them with the drop cloth and make them reversible. Check out this sneak peek of my first pillows:

Check back often and follow my Front Porch Make-Over as I add tutorials for making  Roman shades, seat cushions and pillows for my porch. All using drop cloth and combos of beautifully printed outdoor fabric for pops of color. However, you can also paint your drop cloth to add stripes, stencils (which I plan on doing too) , or even dye it. I love this sturdy versatile and CHEAP fabric.
 

 
 

Constructing a Trellis For The Garden

         I watched THIS video by Reaganite71 on youtube. If you haven't seen his gardening video's, be sure and stop by. You will learn a lot, plus they are very entertaining. I seen this video last Fall I believe, and knew right away I was doing this. Especially after I tried to string up my pole beans and my string sagged so bad in the middle by mid season, I ended up with a $2.60 a 10 foot piece. The corner connections are a good bit higher. They cost me about $3.50 each, and you need two per trellis.  You also need a pipe cutter, or a hack saw like I used., and your nylon string. I used mason's string.
         Anyway, it didnt take too long. My peas are about 6" tall now, so these short 5' ones are going in that bed. Take a look. Oh..... and excuse the mess. I am working on these trellis's, and my husband is working on replacing gutter and underhang on the garage.