Skylight Shade Curtain

I have two skylights in my office which not only heat up the room in the summer when heat isn't wanted, but also at certain times of the day create a glare on my computer screen. I went to Lowe's to price skylight shades and I could not fathom paying that much. So I came up with this idea instead.

I took two tension rods per skylight and took some scrap dark fabric and some scrap white shiny fabric. I first measured my skylights and made the length of the fabric the same as the window but added enough inches for a large hem on both sides of the curtain for the tension rod slots. (I should have been a little more generous in retrospect, but it works well enough.)

I sewed shiny white fabric on top in the direction that the curtain would be facing the outside to reflect the light.

I have put these curtains in and even though I was a little off in the width, they have significantly cut down on the summer heat and no more glare on the computer. I can leave them in and scrunch down the fabric to open it up halfway to let in light yet still keep the glare off the computer.

The only inconvenience is still having to get up on the ladder to open or close them.