Privacy Please!

We will be living in our car for about eleven days and will need some privacy. Our next focus of the Dirtbag Mobile was removable curtains and screens.

Curtains- We found tension rods at Family Dollar for $2.50 each. Four is enough to cover our larger windows. The tension won't really work inside the door frame (no matter how hard I hope), so we attached them to the plastic parts of the car around the windows with sticky hooks we also found at Family Dollar. I found a ton of fabric left over from another project that never got competed. I just measured and cut the fabric to be 1 1/2 times the width of the window and sewed an inch and a half loop for the poles. Alternatively, you could us any poles or dowels you have laying around and we also talked about cutting holes in hand towels to pass the pole through and have curtains that pull double duty. Perfect for real-hard dirtbagging.

We wanted to make sure to not feel like we lost space with the curtains. As they hang, they drop a few inches away from the door. We bought Velcro dots to attach the bottom of the curtain to the door to give us more breathable space when they are closed. Once I hung them, I was able to situate the tail ends with the seatbelt!! The curtains fall just in front of both front and back seat belts. No Velcro needed; no space lost!! 

For the back of the car, we used left over cardboard from another project and for the windshield, we'll just get a regular sun shade cover.

Screen attached with magnets and hangs well below the bumper. You can also see the cardboard for the back window above this adorable man. 

Screen is large enough to cover the table if we need to keep the flies out during dinner prep.

Screens- I went back and forth on how to make screens for the windows. In the desert, we'll need to sleep with the windows open but I'm not about to play with flying creatures at night (did that once- not fun). I was going to get a Magic Mesh door and just cut it up to size. But, they are expensive and I would probably need two to cover all the windows. Of course, Ikea has those fantastic mesh curtains for $5- always. You can't beat that! I was able to cut screens for the back windows, front windows and the hatchback, and have some left over to fix the first ones that are just slightly too small PLUS one whole panel that will fit nicely in my hallway door. SO MUCH MESH! To attach, we used small, ceramic magnets that the door can actually close on without a problem. It takes about eight magnets for each window. We wrap the screen around the door frame so it is pulled tight when the door is closed and it opens with the door.

Here is the first edition we tried out on a weekend camping trip. The screens are now a little larger to wrap around the window better.

For extra ventilation, we got two stroller fans on Amazon with clips that fit on the handle above the windows. This will allow us each to regulate our own wind speed though the night.

Don't forget to check out the building of our Dirtbag mobile to see what we started with!