We have a wonderful skylight in our camper. I love it, except in the morning when it's like a prison searchlight hitting my eyes! It came with a 'light diffusing' shade installed, which basically means it does NOTHING to block the light.
I looked into buying a shade for it - very expensive! So, I've been stuffing a piece of reflectix in it at night. It looks tacky, I may live in a travel trailer, but I have my standards! It also ends up laying around and getting in the way all day, until of course, I need to put it back up and then it can't be found.
Well, guess what! I came up with a way to make my own custom blind for any size skylight for less than $10! Actually, for $10 I would have enough supplies to make 4 skylight blinds!
My skylight measures 13" deep x 22" wide. For some reason it looks small and square in the photos!
This is what you need:
I got it all at Lowes, but Home Depot carries them too, I think.
(36"x72" Paper Light Blocking $5.47)
Measure the opening and decide if you want to go across the long or the short side. Let's say that I chose the short side because it works best for the location of our skylight (right in front of the bed) but, actually I only had a small scrap and it wasn't long enough to go across the other sides.
Cut the molding to fit each side. Hot glue in place. Curse because you just got hot glue in your hair (again)
Looks good, eh? Can hardly tell it's not part of the original skylight.
(Try to schedule this mod for after 5pm so you can take a wine break at this point. Well, maybe you should finish cutting the blind first)
Make sure you have the adhesive strip on one end of the shade material. Cut the Redi-Shade to fit the opening. Cut it tight, then adjust it to fit by trimming small amounts off. I had to cut the sides at a little bit of an angle to fit. It went together with no problem at all! Easiest mod I've done.
After the shade is cut to size, cut another piece of molding to go across the front. You can use the same as the sides. I was using scrap and didn't have enough for the front, so mine is made from a scrap of different molding.
It just needs to make a strong front edge to the shade. It can be plastic, wood, or just about anything. Probably not bread, it will attract ants.
Glue the wood to the front of the blind.
You want it to be on the bottom edge when the shade is folded.
Test fit everything. This is the last chance to easily change things.
Wipe the frame with alcohol so the adhesive will stick well, expose the adhesive strip and stick it to the skylight .
A lot less noticeable than the original shade was!
And it BLOCKS the light!
\
So, let me know how you like and where you're going to put one!
Just don't contact me early in the morning because
I'M SLEEPING IN!!!
Very clever thanks!
ReplyDeleteOMG, this is AWESOME!!
ReplyDeleteWe are also fulltime rv'ers, but my issue is a little different.
My chocolate lab hates thunder! When storms hit (i'm in FL, so a lot), her hideout of choice is the bathtub. The close confinement and darkness helps to ease her anxiety. The problem is the skylight doesn't block light or flashes of lightning.
I have used those spring open windshield sunshades laid across the shower rod, but they are a pain in the butt because we have to remove them to shower. This will work great because it will go up inside the skylight and we don't have to find a place to stash it when we shower. THANK YOU SO MUCH for this ingenious remedy!!
I don't know if you will see this, but if you do - I had an idea about your skylight -
ReplyDeleteSince it's in your shower, it might be nice to make it removable.
If you attach molding to each end of the shade to stiffen it. Then instead of attaching one end with glue, attach sticky back velcro to both ends of the blind. That way you can put it up when you need to and remove it when you want to take a shower.
Just a thought :) Give your dog a hug from me and Emily (the Maltese) She loves big dogs (as do I!)
- Liz