Living in a fishbowl

July 26, 2006 1:21 PM

I have been searching in vain for a way to make my outdoor space more private. Can you all help me find a specific type of screen (if it exists)?

I have a deck outside my apartment. The way it was built really ruins any sort of privacy I might have sitting outside. Essentially the 'decks' form a walkway around the outside of our building. My unit is on the corner on the highest floor, so at least there's no reason for anyone to have to walk past my unit.

However, I really feel like I'm exposed when I'm sitting out there and as a result I've barely used the space. Orginally, I had been looking at something like this. However, I came up with an idea last night and I cannot seem to find something that fits the description. The reason I don't want to use the type of thing I linked is because I don't want to have to haul it inside constantly, and would worry about it being blown over by wind.

Since I have the typical steel railing around 3 sides of the deck, I was looking to find a sort of retractable screen that I could mount on the railing. So when I am out there and want privacy, I could pull it across to the other side, thereby making a 4th wall. Think a screen similar to the one your teacher pulled down from the ceiling to show the crappy movies on. Does such a thing exist only in my head (specifically designed for this purpose)? Or is there something close enough that I could modify. Size would ideally be approx 5ft tall by 8ft wide.

posted by ninjew to home & garden (7 comments total)

I'm having a little trouble envisioning this lay out, but could you use some sort of a bamboo/rattan blind? They are fairly cheap, and while not entirely weather proof, they are weather resistant. You could get one cut to whatever size you wanted.
posted by kimdog at 1:35 PM on July 26, 2006

What about a retractable clothes line? The one linked is 8 ft long; you'd just need to be able to mount the end hook on your building somehow. Then, you could hang a sheet or other fabric over it - still some fuss each time, but super-duper cheap.
posted by donnagirl at 1:36 PM on July 26, 2006

How about planters with, er, plants? Of course, you'll have to remember to water them.
posted by porpoise at 1:36 PM on July 26, 2006

A sun shade?
posted by sanko at 1:39 PM on July 26, 2006

If you can mount to the ceiling, roll-down sun shades might be a workable solution.
posted by xo at 1:48 PM on July 26, 2006

Some ideas here for roll-up sun shades. Or one of those famous shade sails on its side could be cool.
posted by fionab at 1:51 PM on July 26, 2006

An underbed storage container, a couple bags of fence post pre-mix, and some water and you could make a non permanent base to mount the screen you linked to. Just pour the mix into the container, add the specified amount of water and then set the screen's included mounting brackets into the concrete mix.
Easily¹ moved if needed, and if wind blows the screen over when attached to 160 pounds of concrete you've got bigger problems.

You could get fancy and colour the concrete or add coloured glass. Or you could go with hypertufa. Because the rubbermaid container is tapered it'll release the concrete fairly easily.

[1] Well sort of easily, two bags of post mix weighs 160 pounds. But the plastic box will slide really well.
posted by Mitheral at 2:00 PM on July 26, 2006