For at least the first month of living in our new place, we had z.e.r.o window treatments on any of our windows. Well…unless you count the curtains I taped up with painter’s tape on our windows.Not the classiest look in the world. Because of this lack of privacy, I would quickly scamper from the bathroom to the closet to change clothes after getting out of the shower. Finally, one weekend I decided that it was time to suck it up and come up with a gameplan for window treatments in our bedroom. The rest of the house could wait…but the bedroom windows needed some T.L.C. I loved the bamboo shades we used in our old place and knew I wanted to add some of these natural shades to our new bedroom window. So I headed to Lowe’s in hopes that I could find a good shade to fit our 35×35 window to the right of our bed. That’s when I found these. They were a great price, the right color, and even had a little privacy liner behind them to keep streams of sunlight out. Yes, yes, and yes!
But the only problem…their size. I chatted with a Lowe’s employee and he assured me that he could cut the width in-store to my desired size. But he wouldn’t be able to cut the length. He also mentioned that his wife has altered the length of bamboo shades before, and it was definitely doable to cut them to your desired length. With his encouragement, (and a quick scroll on google to make sure I could handle this project) I decided to go for it. I had him cut the shade to size and I left the store ready to add a bit more privacy to our boudoir. Installing the bamboo shades was super easy. I simply followed the directions and used my power drill to speed up the process. Once they were up and at their full length, they looked like this.I made a mark on the shades where I wanted to cut them and then took the shades off so I could get to work. With the shades laid out on our floor, I was ready to get to work and shorten these bad boys. Not all bamboo shades are made the same, but they’re all very similar.
So you may have to tweak these next steps based on your shades, but for the most part this should give you a good idea how to shorten them. There should be rings on the back of your shades that hold the strings in place. These strings are used to move the shades up and down on your window. I went 1 ring up from where I made my mark on the shades, and cut the string. Then I tied the string onto the ring, double knotting it a few times. I repeated this for all 3 strings, until they were secure on the bottom rings. Then I got out my hot glue gun. Because these shades are made from bamboo pieces and string, I didn’t want anything to unravel when I went to cut the shade. So I got out the hot glue and flipped my shade over to the other side. Knowing that I was going to “hem” the bottom of my shades, I decided on a spot to cut a few inches down from my original mark on the shade. Then, I glued the string on the front of the blinds above & below the spot where I was going to cut the shade.
When the glue dried, I then took out a cutting board and a razor blade and slowly went down the width of the shade to cut through it. I then flipped the shade back over, and “hemmed” the bottom. To do this, I simply put a big ol’ blob of hot glue all the way across the shade and folded the bottom up.My bamboo shades were instantly shortened and looking pretty good…if I do say so myself. All that was left to do was re-install the shade and shorten the pull string. To do that I just cut the string and re-knotted it. I am super proud of this DIY project. Who needs expensive window treatments when you can can customize budget-friendly ones yourself?! And let’s back track to what this window used to look like… Our bedroom is feeling much more complete with these on our windows. Here’s an update on this room’s to-do list. Now it’s time to tackle the large sliding glass doors in this room (bye bye makeshift curtains!). Next week I’ll share the step-by-step tutorial for the blackout curtains I made for our bedroom (no sewing required.)
Until then I’ll be enjoying the extra privacy & darkness in our master bedroom. Our retractable door screens let you leave your doors open longer and get the best of the outside air. Retractable screens for windows disappear so you can enjoy your view all year round. For porches and patios Expand your home and create an outdoor living space that's protected from the glare of the sun.X Your Page Cannot Be Found The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience. You will be redirected to the home page or click here to go now. Sign up or log in to customize your list. Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top I need some advice about vertical vinyl blinds for a screen door. Right now I'm missing 4 or 5 of the blinds. Should I buy replacements slats or a new set? When you buy them, will you they be cut to size by the store, or is this even an option?
Looking for some general advice on how to proceed. Honestly, vertical blind sets are so relatively inexpensive that if you've lost/broken this many slats I would seriously consider replacing the entire vertical blind. There are blind sets available from HIW stores as cheaply as $20. Even if you don't want to actually replace the whole thing, a kit like this is cheap enough to justify cannibalizing it for spare parts, so you could buy a cheap kit with the same color slats as what you already have, and just throw away the rail assembly, keeping the slats in storage for when more slats break (and they will; it's a guarantee). As far as I have ever been able to tell, replacement vertical blind slats are not sold individually. Being made of vinyl, they have to be stored flat during shipping or else they'll never hang right; this makes packaging, stocking and selling replacement slats a bulkier proposition than you might think. Then, they have to keep a selection of popular color schemes in stock long after that color or pattern has been discontinued (a vertical blind set can last years if not abused, but those slats eventually WILL break up at the attachment to the rail, or split along their length when accidentally folded in half).
All to sell them for maybe a dollar a slat. It just isn't worth it to the manufacturer or retailer. As far as cutting to length, the default height for a vertical blind installation is that of the standard doorway, 84" (7 feet). You very rarely see vertical blinds in windows (though it can happen) and so there's less requirement for customization. However, any HIW should be able to cut vertical blinds to length using much the same equipment they'd use for cutting window blinds (if not the same method). I doubt though that they could customize the width of a blind set; unlike horizontal blinds such as for windows, vertical blinds have that bar mounted along the entire rail with bearings on both ends. You can't just lop some of that rail off and still expect it to work. Thank you for your interest in this question. Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).