How to Do Your Room Canopy

Stand on a tall ladder placed close to the corner of the room, and move a stud finder along the ceiling close to the corner. Mark the location of a ceiling joist with your pencil. A ceiling joist is the beam that supports the ceiling of your room. Joists are evenly spaced in one direction across a room ceiling. The stud finder is designed to sense hidden nails used to hold the drywall to the ceiling joist.

Drill into the ceiling joist with a drill, and screw a heavy-duty screw eye into the ceiling. Repeat for all corners of the room.

Place the ladder close to the center of the room. If you have a chandelier, move the ladder to the close side of the fixture. Position and screw in four screw hooks evenly spaced around the light fixture canopy. When possible, screw into the ceiling joist. If you can't find a joist, use wall anchors to screw into the anchors.

Return to a corner of the room. Tie a sturdy cord to the screw eye. Stretch the cord to the next adjacent corner, and tie the cord tight. Repeat from each corner so you have cords running from corner to corner.

Measure from the center of the ceiling to your furthest cord and down to the floor, and add 8 inches to this measurement. Measure the width of your wall that uses your furthest cord, and multiply by two. This is the width of your longest side fabric. Repeat for your shortest cord and wall. Cut fabric using these measurements.

Fold the top edge of your fabric to the back 1 inch, and sew a seam 3/4 inch from the edge using a sewing machine or a needle and thread. Repeat for all fabric panel sections. Separate your long wall fabric panels into two equal piles. Separate your short wall fabric panels into two equal piles.

Cut a piece of cord 24 inches long. Attach a larger safety pin to the end of the cord. Thread one group of long panels onto the cord. Thread a group of short panels, then long, then short. All the panels should have the fold on the same side.

Stand on the ladder next to the light fixture or center ceiling area. Hook the cord into the ceiling hooks with your panels evenly spaced and aligned with the right walls. Tie the cord snug. Move your ladder to each wall, and lift the corresponding fabric sections over the wall cord. Spread out the fabric evenly.