We're Designers. We like to Decorate, while we Eat Chocolate.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Roman Shades from Big Blinds

My dining room transformation is moving a long.  My latest project was making these roman shades using my blinds.   I have to admit, when I first started cutting the strings for this I was worried!! Once you start there is no turning back.  I felt the pressure of getting it done before my husband came home and saw everything dismantled:)

****Edited to add: The fabric I used was Windsor from Lewis and Sheron Textiles.

Here's the window BEFORE: excuse the crummy pic of the ghetto room!



AFTER:

I followed this tutorial for shades our of mini blinds, but used my larger blinds.

First I removed my blinds from the window.  I cut all the little slits and took off the bottom, and removed the extra slats that I didn't need.  (leaving intact the pull string--don't cut that one!)

 Second, I rethreaded the slats that I needed.  I put one about every 8-9 inches.

Then I lined up my fabric, left 3" on each side of the slats, then glued each slat down on the fabric with a little bead of FabriTac glue from Micheals.  Then I folded the edges over and glued them onto the slats.

After I put it up on the window, I decided to add some lining to the shade.
So I cut out lining pieces and glued the rectangles onto the fabric in between the slats.  It would be better to do this first, before you glued any slats on.  Oh well.

I also left about 6 inches on the bottom of the shade, and then I just hemmed it by folding it over and gluing it into place.  

Then I hung it back up into the existing hardware. 

Drumroll please....!

(please ignore the wall color--that will be attacked shortly:))

Woila!

And it goes up and down just like the blinds did.  I love it.
Thanks for stopping by!

Update:  On my second shade I glued the slats to the lining first, and then laid that on top of my fabric and glued the lining to the fabric in the same place the slats were laying.   I think it turned out even nicer:-)

10 comments:

  1. I made my own roman shades with dowels, fabric and string. They work okay but are ghetto if you look closely. This is amazing! I'm definitely tearing the old down and making these. Thanks!

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  3. The blinds are superb, and it's perfect for the window and for framing the morning view from it. The fabric that you've chosen is a nice pick because it can make the view brighter when it is sunny. Perhaps you can also create blinds before gift-giving and house transferring.


    Winfred Eibach

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  4. Wow!!! awesome.. what a work of art!!! You did it great for sure your husband will be so happy upon looking at the transformation...

    plantation shutters

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  5. You did such a beautiful job. I have wanted to try this myself. Thanks for sharing your tutorial.

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  6. I love your fabric! Do you mind sharing the details/where you got it? Thanks!

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  7. I did this on my old yellowed blinds in my breakfast room and it came out great! Thank you so much for sharing!

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