For example, our height was 3-feet, so we measured and cut two 5-foot pieces. For the legs, simply add 2-3 additional feet to your movie screen height. Once these pieces have been cut, go ahead and cut your legs and feet too. Once you have an idea of your screen size, measure and cut the 2×4 Whitewood Studs with the miter saw. Three, 2×4 Whitewood Studs (or any desired wood type)īefore breaking out the saw, decide what size movie screen will best fit in your outdoor space, and choose the appropriate canvas drop cloth size.

24-pack of screws (we used deck screws).

Movie projector- we found our small, portable projector off Amazon.

Trimaco SuperTuff 6×9 Drop Cloth– 4×5 and 9×12 options are also available, depending on your desired movie screen size.

What better way to enjoy streaming events or watching a classic movie than on a large, outdoor movie screen? Trimaco has you covered!īuild your own at-home, outdoor movie theater with a Trimaco canvas drop cloth! We’ve compiled the tools and steps needed for a perfect family outdoor activity: Step One: Gather Materials

Although not live, we can stream these events in the comfort of our own home.

In an effort to flatten the curve and slow the spread of the virus, we should prepare for a new normal for the foreseeable future.Īs large gatherings such as concerts, sporting events and performances have been cancelled and postponed we continue to look for more at-home activities. Now you're ready to start the show.As Covid-19 continues to affect our everyday lives, health officials state that we should continue practicing social distancing. Then loop an appropriate length of thin, sturdy rope (we recommend 1/8-inch paracord) through the clips and tie around a tree branch, raised deck, or any other high, sturdy beam in your yard. To hang the screen, attach a carabiner to each screw eye.Insert the remaining two 60-inch pieces of pipe into the elbow sockets to complete the frame.The two elbows with screw eyes are positioned at the frame's top. Slide four elbows onto the ends of the 52-inch-long pieces.Insert a 60-inch piece of pipe into the vertical socket of the top and bottom tee.Insert a tee into the unsewn gap at the top and bottom of the frame, and push each pipe into the horizontal socket of each tee. Slide the four 52-inch pieces of pipe into the fabric pockets.Insert the two screw eyes from which you hang the screen. If it's too close to the end of the pipe, the screw tip will block the pipe from entering the elbow. The location of the pilot hole is important. With a 1/8-inch twist drill bit, drill a pilot hole in the top of two PVC elbows for the screw eyes.Use a miter saw to cut three pieces of PVC to 60 3/8 inches and four pieces to 52 inches.This forms a gap in the pocket into which you insert a PVC tee fitting. Note that a 2-inch-wide unsewn gap is centered in the fabric's long edges. Sew four pockets into the stretchable fabric (see diagram above).It's a great environment, outside on a summer night. We'd watch a classic football movie- We Are Marshall, Rudy, Remember the Titans. He'd set up speakers and a projector, pointed at a wall. The Gear and the SetupĪ few times a season, after my kid's peewee football practice, we'd have everyone over to a neighbor's house. You are fully outdoors and fully at the movies, too. But with a backyard movie, you can sit back and take a look at the stars. It's all just light and sound above the crickets, after all. And maybe any movie is merely incidental when set against the larger world. In the end, maybe any summer's night is meant to be forgotten. Here, at home, life recedes because you ask it to. This is a conscious sort of outdoor living, in which the comfort of an Adirondack chair at twilight is not taken for granted. Big-band music resonates better when the wind blows. It's a conscious kind of movie watching, the creation of sound and light against a diaphanous, imperfect scrim. When someone strings a bedsheet across his backyard in order to watch West Side Story one more time? Count me in. We go to a drive-in to be somewhat outside as we watch our stories unfold 30 feet above us, against the sliver of sunset, the darkling light, the waxing disk of a summer moon. But no one goes to a drive-in for the movie. And sure, we take a gander at the movie, even from the backseat. I've seen vigorous games of ultimate Frisbee at drive-ins. Kids stubbornly play on dimly lit playgrounds. They drink cans of beer from coolers secreted past the gate. Master skills, get tool recommendations, and, most importantly, build something of your very own.Īt the drive-in, life does not recede when the movie begins. POP Projects is a collection of new and classic projects from more than a century of Popular Mechanics.

Diy movie screen