How to Make a Projector Screen Using a White Sheet

You’ve got the projector, the comfortable seats and the popcorn. Now all you need for your big movie night is the projector screen. Rather than spending big bucks for a commercial projection screen, make your own screen at home using one of the most common home supplies: the bedsheet. Creating a quality sheet screen isn’t difficult and it will allow your movies to really shine.

Select an appropriate white sheet. Make sure that your sheet is matte, not silk or satin, so that the light is not reflected. Choose two twin-size sheets or one king-size sheet, folded in half. Doubling up the sheet helps create a blackout surface to prevent light from projecting through the sheet.

Iron the sheet to assure a crisp image. Set the iron to the cotton setting and allow it to heat up completely and lay out the sheet on an ironing board or table covered with a towel. Move the iron over the surface of the sheet to smooth out any wrinkles until the entire sheet has been ironed.

Use a grommet tool to press grommets onto the four edges of the sheet, following the manufacturer's directions. Take care to punch through both layers of the sheet. Place additional grommets at the top and bottom center edge of the sheet and the two sides of the sheet, centered on the edge.

Create a frame for your sheet by measuring the width of your sheet from corner grommet to corner grommet. Sink pressure-treated 2-by-2 lumber, at least 10 feet tall, into the ground a foot or two, spaced to match your measurement. If you do not have ground that you can sink the lumber into, place the lumber into two 5-gallon buckets and fill the buckets with gravel.

Hammer a 3-inch nail into the top of the lumber, leaving an inch of nail exposed. Tie one end of the rope to a nail and stretch it across to the other nail, making it taut. Repeat this for the bottom of the sheet, placing the nails and rope to match the height measurement of the sheet.

Measure the distance from the grommets on each side of the sheet and place nails in the front of the lumber to correspond with these measurements. Leave enough of the nail exposed so that the grommet can hook over the nail.

Hook the grommets onto the nails so that the sheet is held up against the frame. Use zip ties to fasten the top and bottom center grommets to the rope.