We live in a sweet little house in a sweet little town surrounded by bountiful fruit trees.  Summer time is such an abundant time for us.  But with that delicious fruit hanging from the trees comes flies.  I’m not down with flies in my kitchen.  So here’s how I made an instant bug screen in just minutes.

This post started with my obsession to get rid of the flies that were lurking in my kitchen.  I was not having it.  I like to keep the french door open in my kitchen on sunny warm days, but as the fruit starts to ripen on our fruit trees, the flies start to find their way inside.

Imagine this: me jumping around the kitchen with a rolled up newspaper swatting flies.  Yeah, not fun.  I even got myself an old fashioned fly swatter.  GROSS!

I know that flies are just part of nature.  I’m an outside girl at heart.  But I am not down with flies landing on my food that I am working on in the kitchen.  The last straw came when I was editing some photos for a blog post and one of them had a fly in it.  WHAT?  A fly on my food?  I’m done!

Seriously reminded me of the dirtiest restaurant that I ever saw in India.  I’m talking an outside little place with rats scurrying around and cockroaches all over the place.  I’m not kidding.  It was bad.    And I’m not having it in my kitchen.

Ok, so maybe I’m being a bit dramatic.  But I’m still not down with the flies.  So here’s an easy way to solve that problem.  You can make this easy instant bug screen for around $10.  It opens easily. You just push it out of the way as you walk through the door.   It does the job.  And you can take it down, roll it up,  and store it when fly season is over.

I found a bug screen online for $50.  I thought about getting it.  But why spend $50 when I can just make one myself, for under $10.  I’m European.  I’m practical.  Sort of like IKEA.  You know what I mean?

How to Make an Instant Bug Screen

What you’ll need:

• roll of fiberglass window screen (sold by the foot at hardware stores or buy online)
• 1″ x 2″ piece of wood to run across the top of the doorway
• T50 staples
• staple gun
• 3 large screws
• power drill
• scissors to trim screen

Directions:

1. Measure the width and height of  door that you want to cover to find dimensions for the screen that you need and the runner that goes on top.  You will want the screen to be 6-8 inches inches wider than the doorway and 6 inches longer.  This ensures proper coverage so those perky little bugs stay out.
2. Cut your top 1 x 2 piece of wood to match the width of the screen that you chose.
3. Attach  the fiberglass screen to the 1×1 wooden runner with staples.
4. Use large screws to attach the runner (with screen attached) to outside of doorway.
5. Test your bug screen to see how it opens and closes.  You just push it out of the way when you walk through.  You may need to cut the bottom in order for it to close smoothly.

NOTE:  I have heard of folks attaching weights or magnets to the bottom of these instant bug screen to make them more effective,  You can do so if you want.  I just haven’t found it necessary.  Our screen closes nicely after you walk through.  Just be sure that you don’t leave it too long or it may create a bit of drag that keeps it from closing properly.

Here’s a few pics of how we did it:

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I would love to hear your best tips for keeping bugs out of the kitchen during warmer weather.

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