WASH-AND-WEAR SHEETS--just the thing for porch hangings

Years ago, as a young mom with a low-to-no decorating budget, I needed to shield a much-used porch from summer sun. There were no stock-sized matchstick blinds to fit. What to do?  Aha--expandable shower rods between porch posts, with shirred-on-the-rod wash-and-wear sheets. The sheet were already hemmed, so all I needed do was open the hem at either end and slip on the rods. Cotton tiebacks are held by cuphooks. When rains came, I simply let the sheets hang loose until dry--a matter of minutes.  This quick, easy, inexpensive solution to a decorating problem appeared in 1,001 DECORATING IDEAS.  A year or so later, a friend, Barbara Brooks, then an editor at HOUSE BEAUTIFUL, asked whether she could "borrow" the porch for a photo shoot. Alas, we had moved away.