I don’t really have any great photos that show what the balcony looked like before but I want to show this tarp we added because it really did a ton to improve the function of the balcony.
As my son was getting older and starting to get more mobile, we were starting to feel more nervous about access to the balcony. For one, we were concerned about him climbing over the railing. Many balconies have their bars oriented vertically but ours is horizontal which basically makes it like a ladder.
We were also concerned with him throwing things over the edge of the balcony. We live on the fifth floor and it seemed like it could hurt someone if something fell from that high.
Another problem we wanted to address was the fact that our balcony gets a ton of wind. It’s not covered like other balconies on our building and the wind, when it comes from the west, can be kind of brutal. While it wasn’t the primary motivator for this project, I was thrilled with the prospect of improving that problem as well.
We thought about a lot of different solutions for blocking this access including plexiglass but ultimately went with a tarp for financial reasons. Because we only have a few vertical bars, it limited how we could install the tarp. We considered getting one that would go around the entire perimeter but instead chose three separate panels because we were worried that completely covering it up would feel claustrophobic and thought my son would probably prefer to be able to look out over the edge.
The photo on the edge shows the space before furniture so you can see how the bars are designed. The photo on the right is a sketch I drew when trying to figure out how the tarps would be installed. I then gave my husband the sketch and he got the dimensions, ordered the tarps, and then installed them with zip ties according to my specs.
Below you can see how the balcony looks with the tarp installed. We installed it on the inside so that it block my son from being tempted to climb on the bars. We made sure to hang it low enough that he also wouldn’t be tempted to push something out through the lowest slot. That left a little space at the top which was perfect for being able to hang our planters.
When you’re sitting out there, you can still look out through the corners and see what’s going on down below but it creates a feeling of privacy that makes the space much more pleasant. I don’t notice the wind like I used to so I assume it’s helping with that as well. And most important, my son is safe and has not thrown anything over the edge so the people below are safe as well.