As I've been working on transforming half of my basement garage into a workshop, I found myself with a need to separate the two halves of the room with some sort of divider. I wanted everything in the half that would be a storage area to be out of sight and protected from the sawdust that would be flying in the workshop half.

I wanted a curtain or divider solution that was easy to DIY, affordable, and could be completely slid out of the way whenever we needed to move the boat or other large things that were behind it.

Video: How to make an inexpensive curtain to hide a storage area

Here's a video showing my easy DIY solution for hiding the storage area in my garage with an inexpensive curtain.

If you can't see the video, try viewing it directly on YouTube.

If you prefer step-by-step instructions, keep reading to see exactly how I hide my storage area with a giant curtain.

Making an extra long curtain rod

My extra-wide curtain would need an extra-long curtain rod, and there was no way I was going to pay for an expensive "real" curtain rod for this space. Instead, I headed to the electrical aisle at my local Home Depot. I picked up a couple 1/2" EMT electrical conduit pipes, which make really inexpensive and easy DIY curtain rods. To suspend the pipe from the ceiling, I grabbed a few metal pipe hanger clips.

Installing the pipe as a curtain rod starts with removing the bolts from the hanger clips and then screwing the clips into the ceiling, one at each end. One one side of the room, I had a challenge from the copper pipes that ran across the ceiling, so I just added a wooden spacer block between the hanger and the joist so that the hanger was a little lower.

This little spacer was just enough to let the rod clear the copper pipes no problem.

I hung another clip on the other side of the span to match. I didn't have to worry about copper pipes on this side, but since I wanted the curtain rod to be even, I used a wood spacer block on this side too.

Then I measured between the two clips and used a hacksaw to cut a piece of conduit to the length I needed.

I popped the conduit into the clip and then added the security bolt and nut through the holes.

I hand-tightened the nut and that was it!

I actually hung two different rods across my workshop, because I had a big plumbing drain pipe running down the middle of the room. I didn't want to drop the curtain 6" to go below it, so I just made two different rods, putting the ends as close to the drain pipe as I could.

Extending a curtain rod beyond 10 feet

The conduit I used came in 10' lengths, and one side of my garage needed an 11' span (wouldn't you know it?) so I was faced with a challenge. No problem, a quick set screw adapter is all it took to connect two pieces of pipe together.

I will say that when you go beyond 10 feet in length, the conduit does get a little droopy, so if you need to have an extra-long curtain rod, I suggest using a thicker conduit or adding a clip in the middle of your span.

Inexpensive, long curtains to cover a wide space

With the rod done, it was now time to move on to the curtains. The 9' ceilings in my garage and incredibly wide span I wanted to cover with curtain would have meant a huge bill at the fabric store if I bought by the yard. Plus who wants to hem all that fabric? So I came up with an alternative solution. Tablecloths!

I found a super inexpensive, lightweight 60" x 102" tablecloth at Walmart. It was kinda thin and low quality, but that's actually perfect for this use — I wanted something lightweight that wouldn't hang heavy on the rods, and that I could easily slide back and forth. And a 102" long rectangular tablecloth is perfect for my ceiling height.

The best part about using tablecloths rather than raw fabric is that tablecloths are already hemmed. All I had to do was sew them together, side by side, to get a giant panel of fabric, and I didn't have to worry about the edges.

To turn this giant panel into a curtain, I folded over one end a couple inches and used my sewing machine to sew button holes every six inches or so. If you don't have a sewing machine that can do buttonholes, you could add grommets instead, but this is what worked best for me.

Using shower curtain hooks to hang curtains

Then I picked up the cheapest shower curtain hooks I could find, aiming for something super thin that you would hardly notice at all. I slid one into each button hole and my curtain was ready to hang.

I hung the hooks over the rods, clipped them shut, and the curtain was done.

The finished custom DIY curtains to cover my storage space

What a huge improvement this curtain made to my workarea! The entire storage area is now hidden from view, and the boat and other items will remain protected from the sawdust or other mess I might generate in the workshop half.

Because I used lightweight fabric, I can easily slide the entire curtain out of the way and it only takes up a foot or so of space on the side. This solution makes it easy to get things in and out of storage whenever I need to.

And remember that drain pipe that ran down the middle of the room and caused me to split my curtain into two halves? That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it led to a very natural doorway area to split the curtains, so I can push half to either side if I need to get into the workarea. I definitely recommend having two curtains and leaving an opening in the middle.