You know what I am sick of? I am sick of paying the equivalent of a mortgage payment to style my home. It really should not be that expensive to buy nice things for my place. And I know those blinds or curtains only cost the company like 20 cents to make by a robot machine. So why the hell am I paying, like, $50 for a run-of-the mill curtain or blind? Why?! Not today, Satan, not today. So I think you should try to stick it to the man and upcycle your own Roman blinds with the fabric of your choice in 25 minutes or less.

Supplies:

Fabric of any sort
Blinds
Fabric glue
Measuring tape
Duct tape
Scissors

Steps:

Take your old blinds down, but leave the brackets in place. Dust and pop off the end caps like a champagne bottle. Set them aside and look at the bottom bar for the tiny knots or ending knot. Now, you want to just cut the thicker ladder cord completely off – or leave it in place if you like the length. Make sure NOT to cut the pull cord that raises and lowers blinds. Take a tiny piece of duct tape and put it on the bottom of the pull cord, so you don’t get mixed up.

Now, you want to measure where you want your curtains to end and fold. Re-attach the bottom bar where you want the blinds to end. At this point, you will feel like this is all falling apart, and you’ll want to throw them out the actual window. Just keep going. Figure out how many inches or blinds you want between folds. Try five or six to be safe. Now, cut the ladder cord to the first set of slats or blinds. Repeat all the way up. Leave it on the floor, and you should see a skeleton of a blind.

Measure and cut your fabric 2-3 inches wider and longer than your blinds and iron the edge back 1 inch on each side and bottom. Then, lay the fabric flat on the floor. Don’t even try to attempt doing this on a table. Make sure to lay the blind on the fabric to make sure the measurements add up.

Now, take glue to the underside of the hems and put a thin layer under the hems on each side and along the bottom hem. Smooth out the hem and wipe the excess glue off when needed. Now, lay the fabric face down, set your blind on top, and glue the top bar to the fabric. You can also use Velcro here, in case the glue doesn’t want to stick to the top bar.

Now, you want to glue down the actual blinds to the fabric where they measure out in between slats. Less is more when it comes to gluing. Glue or Velcro the bottom bar down when you are done with the slats. Now, you must crack open a beverage and let the blinds completely dry.

Hang the blinds back up and in brackets! You will be happy. Your neighbors will be happy. That is, unless you were giving them a free peep show.