Mother Daughter Projects

  • Blog
  • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
  • Tools
    • Tool Tuesday
  • Maintenance
  • Improvement
  • Decor
  • Tech
  • Blog
  • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
  • Tools
    • Tool Tuesday
  • Maintenance
  • Improvement
  • Decor
  • Tech

DIY for Homeowners

How to Make a DIY Folding Screen

4/8/2018

1 Comment

 
Picture
text by Vicki     Sign up to get Mother Daughter Projects updates in your email!

This post is sponsored by The Home Depot as a part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective Campaign. THD provided the DeWalt Compressor used in this post.
One of our new tools is the DeWalt Cordless Compressor. Rather than just review the tool, we wanted to show you a real life project on how you can use it. Our favorite use for a compressor is for upholstering with a pneumatic stapler. Using this type of stapler takes all the effort out of upholstering. I find it very difficult to use a standard manual upholstery stapler. The electric ones I've used have not been able to drive the staples in completely. 

A pneumatic stapler with a compressor saves your hands and efficiently drives the staples into the fabric down into the wood. This is the only method I'd use to upholster now and in the future!

We were very impressed with the new DeWalt Cordless Compressor. It filled quickly with air, it was as easy as turning a knob to set the output force, and refilled quickly. It is loud, but not any louder than others we've used. Hearing protection is a must as far as we are concerned. 

The project we decided to make is a folding screen. I decided on this after I observed my yoga ball and mat are always in plain sight when not in use. I thought with a screen, I could place these in a corner with the screen in front and not have to look at them during the week! Bonus, I found a piece of mid-century looking vinyl for the screen that has jumpstarted the redecorating of my bedroom.
The screen uses oak, hinges, and vinyl fabric.
We used oak boards and hinges from The Home Depot. I found the vinyl fabric at a yard sale put on by a designer. I didn't think I'd find anything there, but I ended up getting my perfect living room rug, two lamps, and a $5.00 roll of vinyl! It was a good yard sale day!

Materials:

  • (6) 1” x 2” x 6' Oak boards (Home Depot)
  • 1” x 3” x 10’ Oak board (Home Depot)
  • (3) packages of hinges (Home Depot)
  • Vinyl or upholstery fabric of your choice
  • Staples (Home Depot)
  • Stain (Home Depot)

Tools:

  • DeWalt Cordless Compressor (Home Depot)
  • Milwaukee Miter Saw (Home Depot)
  • Upholstery Stapler (Home Depot)
  • Compressor hose (Home Depot)
  • Kreg Pocket Hole Jig (Home Depot)
We marked the horizontal pieces before we cut them to size.
The frames are made from 1x2's (6 at 6' each for the sides) and 9 pieces of 1x3's cut to 12 7/8" which are the horizontal pieces. We marked all the horizontal pieces and cut them on the miter saw.
Picture
Once cut, we laid everything out to check the placement. Note: we sanded those stickers off.
Making pocket holes.
Using the Kreg Pocket Hole Jig, we made pocket holes in each of the 9 horizontal pieces. Each piece got four holes.
Putting in the pocket hole screws.
We squared everything up and secured the boards with pocket hole screws.
Continuing to screw in the pocket hole screws.
Those long clamps helped to keep everything square while we put in the screws.
Cutting the vinyl
Back at my house, I put the vinyl on the floor and cut the three pieces needed to upholster the screen frames.
Staining the frame corners.
Since vinyl can be cut without fraying, I decided to cut out the vinyl in a way that the corners of the frames would show. I stained the area that would show.
The stain is drying.
All the corners are done and drying.
Trimming the vinyl to size.
Back at Steph's I did some final cutting of the vinyl before upholstering. Vinyl is so easy to cut!
Cutting out the vinyl corners.
I cut out the corners so the wood corners would show. The arrow is so I was able to keep the vinyl all going in the same direction on all three pieces.
The DeWalt Cordless Compressor.
The DeWalt Cordless Compressor made the upholstery job so easy! It's a small but powerful machine.
Battery goes in the back.
The battery goes in the back. That knob on the back is to release any build up of condensation.
Using the upholstery stapler.
The upholstery stapler goes on a standard compressor hose. The DeWalt filled quickly and refilled in about 30 seconds. Hearing and eye protection is a must!
Adding the hinges.
We added hinges to connect the screen panels. Two panels are placed back to back for hinge placement and the other two are placed front to front for the second set of hinge placement.
The finished back of the screen.
The back of the screen was finished with felt that was glued into place with fabric glue.
Hiding exercise equipment with the screen.
The screen does a good job of hiding ugly exercise equipment!
Picture
Picture
I love the way this turned out and want to make more! The most challenging part of this project was figuring out how to position the hinges so the screen would fold correctly. Thankfully Steph has a screen at her house and we were able to use that one as a visual aid in helping with the hinge situation. Getting the placement of the hinges and screwing them in is definitely a two-person operation. Draft a buddy to help with this.

​Where do you need a screen in your house? Let us know in the comments below!

We acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with us to participate in the The Home Depot ProSpective Campaign. As a part of the Program, we are receiving compensation in the form of products and services, for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are our own words. Our post complies with the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines. 

FYI: We are not professionals, and we don’t claim to be. This is what we found worked for our project. Yours may need a little different approach. Safety first!

FYI: Affiliate links are being used on this page. Purchasing via these links help support MDP!

Related Projects

Picture
Clean and Replace Window Screens
Picture
2-Sided Rolling Storage
Picture
Rustic Pallet Headboard
1 Comment
Arrow Fastener link
4/10/2018 09:27:28 am

Manual staple guns can be tough to use unless you find one that fits your grip well. Otherwise, they may be difficult to squeeze and keep flush to the surface while firing, which is really important to get the staples all the way into the surface. A pneumatic stapler can absolutely speed up the process. Great job on this project!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    MotherDaughterProjects.com

    Mother Daughter Projects
    ​
    Steph & Vicki

    We're homeowners sharing our DIY adventures as we learn to maintain, improve, decorate, and ​use tech in our homes.
    Share your projects with us here:  
    ​#trylearnshare
    MotherDaughterProjects.com
Mother Daughter Projects, LLC ∙ est. 2015 ∙ Tallahassee, FL by Vicki & Steph ∙ Privacy Policy