Time to shade out the sun

It's that time of year again - temps in the 30s, and the sun heating up the black slate porch and reflecting heat into the house. The old wooden blinds that mum was using have fallen apart 1 by 1, so it was time for some new ones.

We looked around for ready-made options, but the costs were outrageous to do the space we needed, so we decided to try some home-made shade cloth blinds. For less than the price of one lot of readymades we bought enough shadecloth to do blinds for one whole side of the house.

We chose a 70% shadecloth in an attractive blue colour. Armed with measuring tape, an iron, and an eyelet maker we set to work!


The new blinds look better, don't you think (photo on the left has old and new)? As you can see from the picture they are very effective in blocking the bulk of the sun form hitting the tiles, and from shining into the house - but you still get a reasonable view through them. The added bonus is the blue tone helps you imagine that it is a bit cooler than it really is!

We've opted for blinds that will stay in place for the next few months (secured with hooks on top, and pegged to the ground with tent pegs)......mostly because that was the easiest option!! At the end of summer we can take them down and roll them and store them in the shed.


We will be making the rest of the blinds next weekend, and over the next few days these ones will get a good workout with temperatures in the high 30s...UGH!!!