Take Family Movie Night Outside

Make an outdoor portable movie screen for under $10

If you regularly tear the wrinkled sheets off your bed to use them as a makeshift projector screen, it’s time to upgrade. Make this portable screen on the cheap that stashes away in a closet til the next time you need it.

The DIY portable projector screen project over at Instructables can be whipped together in about an hour, and costs next to nothing to assemble. All you need is a white sheet, some eyelets, a few screw-in hooks, and about 12 feet of PVC pipe.

There’s only five steps involved in making the screen:

1. Decide what size you want. Mine is 5 feet wide by 6 feet tall.
2. Cut and sew the top and sides. Leave a couple inches extra on each side so you can fold it over and sew a seam.
3. Insert eyelets. One on each side of the top.
4. Sew in PVC pipe. This is to make it hang flat and straight, and to make it easy to roll up and store. Just fold the bottom over the PVC, crease the sheet, take out the pipe and sew all the way across. Then slide the pipe in and sew the sides shut.
5. Put the hooks in your ceiling. I put some in my living room, my bedroom, and another bedroom. They’re hardly noticeable so I just leave them up there all the time.

Using a bedsheet for this project is a super-inexpensive way to get the job done, and you can get them everywhere from Target to Goodwill. If you’re looking for a sturdier material, though, try using Tyvek in place of the sheet

If you’re feeling adventurous, you could cut the length of PVC pipe in half before sewing it into the sheet—then you can fold it in half before storing it. One of Instructable’s commenters also suggests adding a second piece of PVC pipe to the top edge for added stability, and to make sure the screen hangs straight.