Building a DIY awning is a challenging project, but if you can manage, it can be an extremely rewarding undertaking – not to mention the amount of money you can save by not buying a one and having it fitted.
For anyone who wants to try, we’ve scoured the internet to see what other people have been trying – and as a result, here are our top 19 DIY door awning plans for you to try at home.
1. DIY Awnings on the Cheap
What do you love about DIY? Is it satisfying your creative urge by building attractive and useful new things with your own two hands? Is it the pleasure of being able to recycle old junk and turn it into something useful? Or is it just the fact that it’s cheaper than buying stuff from a store? These are all valid reasons, but if the latter option appeals to you, this DIY awnings plan is for you.
2. How to Make an Easy Entry Awning
If you are looking for a plan for something that is functional rather than aesthetically pleasing, this could be the video for you. This YouTuber makes a simple plastic awning for his door that will do a great job of protecting him from the elements. It’s not supposed to look pretty, but it does what it was made for – and if that’s what you want, why not try to replicate it at home?
3. How to Build a Wood Door Awning
As this blog explains, an awning is not only a functional addition to your door, it also provides an extra decorative element, adding a new visual dimension to your house. If you want to know how to do it, this plan gives you a step-by-step guide that is easy to follow, allowing you to construct an awning of your own. We would have preferred a few more images, but otherwise, this is an excellent plan and well worth a look.
4. Building a Simple Door Awning for the Workshop Backdoor
We like DIY plans that take scrap material that is just lying around and turn it into something practical or useful – and that’s exactly what this resourceful YouTuber does. With some old scrap material from his workshop, he produces an awning that does a great job of stopping the water dripping into the door. And if you want to learn how, check out his video.
5. How to Build a Wood Awning Over a Door
An awning over your front door can instantly make your house look more attractive – and that also gives it an extra level of curb appeal when the time comes to sell. As this blog explains, it’s a relatively demanding project, but if you are up for a challenge, it shouldn’t be impossible to manage. This is a clear plan with simple instructions and helpful illustrations, making it another valuable DIY resource.
6. Big Beautiful Door Canopy Made of 45x95x2400mm Beams
This is a no-frills video that takes you through the process of creating a beautiful door canopy. There’s not much in the way of instructions, you just simply watch as the DIYer works and the canopy takes shape. Easy to understand and easy to copy – another video we enjoyed watching!
7. DIY Awning
Always a reliable source of inspiration whenever we need a DIY plan, the Instructables site is one of our first stops every time we need to make something at home. Their plans are always well-written and backed up with plenty of photos and illustrations, making them a pleasure to read and easy to follow. This plan shows how these DIYers made an awning in the wake of Hurricane Ike to help keep them cool, and it’s an easy project for anyone else to copy at home.
8. Building a Cedar Awning with a Metal Roof
Cedar is one of our favorite woods to work with – and in this video, you can see how these DIYers use this fantastic type of wood to build an awning with a metal roof. A perfect way to keep the rain off your head – and it looks great too.
9. DIY Front Door Awning
We like a DIY plan with a good backstory. We’ll let you read it for yourselves, so we won’t spoil it here – but the short version is, this DIY plan came about at as a way of saving around $500-$1000 that it would have cost to buy one. This version cost way less than that, and if you want to see how to save loads of cash too, it’s more than worth a read.
10. How to Make a DIY Wooden Door Canopy and Save Loads of Cash
Here’s an excellent video from a YouTuber based in the UK. As he explains in the instructions, it’s easy to make and it’s super-cheap. That’s pretty much everything we’re looking for in a good DIY plan, so why not give it a go?
11. DIY Corrugated Metal Awning
Here’s a plan from another of our favorite DIY blogs. Shanty 2 Chic – as you can probably guess from the name – is a DIY site that specializes in taking any old junk you might find around the home and turning into something attractive and functional. This is their plan for building a corrugated metal awning, and that’s about all you need to know. Check it out – it’s a great plan!
12. DIY PC polycarbonate canopy awning for door window
In this short video, this YouTuber shows you how to make a cheap but highly effective awning from polycarbonate. It looks like just the thing if you need to keep the rain away from your front door, and it also looks extremely easy to make. If those are the kinds of qualities you’re looking for, this is a plan that should be of interest.
13. How to Build an Inexpensive Rear-door Awning
Ok, so this one is a little different. This is not a door awning for your home – unless your home happens to have four wheels – it’s a plan for a back-door awning for a Land Cruiser. It’s a great plan though, and let’s face it, we need to be protected from the elements when we’re on the road just as much as when we’re at home, so we thought it was a plan that merited a place in our list.
14. DIY Tiny House Awning
Don’t be fooled by the title – this is not an awning for doll’s house! It’s part of a series of YouTube videos that chronicle this couple’s work on their house, and in this video, you get to see how they added an awning. We think this video is well-made and fun to watch, so why not have a look?
15. How to Shade Your Deck or Patio
This is a plan for a more advanced project, and you’ll need to set aside at least a few days to complete it – and it’s best if there are at least a couple of you to work together too. In fact, this plan gives you several options, allowing you to choose the one that best suits your home and your situation. There are some great photos, too, so with these plans, you should be able to find all the inspiration you need.
16. Door Awning
Here’s another very simple video that just shows a couple of DIYers putting up some awning over a door. Although this video alone won’t give you the full instructions you need to complete the project, watching a few videos like this should give you more of an idea about what the project is likely to entail.
17. How to Build A Small Portico Above A Door
Building a small portico is a challenging job that will require a certain level of DIY ability as well as the right planning and preparation. However, if you are feeling confident, this blog has all the information you need to get started on this advanced but rewarding project. There’s also plenty of help when it comes to measuring and calculating – which is great for anyone like this blogger who has a brain with an aversion to math!
18. Shed Door Refresh and DIY Awning
This blog shows you how they completed a beautiful project of giving a shed door a makeover and adding a DIY awning. This is a super-easy project, so there isn’t much need for over-complicated instructions. Most if is just made up of lots of high-quality photos to show you what to do – and we know there are lots of people who will appreciate this kind of plan.
19. Do It Yourself Awnings
This is not technically a plan for awnings, but we thought it would make a good final entry on our list as it shows you some of the things that are possible. That way, you can start dreaming about the kind of awning you want to install at your place before you begin your project.
Many plans to copy
As you can see, there are many plans to copy, from the cheapest and simplest to the most elaborate – and the amount of ingenuity and creativity on display is inspiring.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading and watching these plans as much as we enjoyed finding them for you – and above all, we hope you’ve now got plenty of ideas for your next DIY project.
Many thanks for featuring my awning, and for inspiring me with the other DIY awnings on your list. There are some truly beautiful handmade structures there!
Easy to understand and well illustrated
That was 19 great ideas! Thanks