Shades of Romania

So how come it always seems that when you move into a new house the window coverings are always that last things to get changed? No? Just me? Ok then.

Moving on!

The large window in my kitchen had a set of mini-blinds on it when we moved it.  This is one of the cat's favorite windows to bird watch from and somehow, one of the ladder thingies that make the slats turn broke.  It wasn't holding them up on one side and so the blinds had a lopsided, trashy look.

Here's the likely culprits at work:

Then one day, while I was wasting many many hours looking at all the fancy things on Pinterest, I stumbled upon this project:

http://365days2simplicity.blogspot.com/2011/04/easy-no-sew-roman-shades.html

I though...hmm, that would be perfect for my broken blinds!!  Alright, step one: take down blinds and take them apart.  Easy, but very dusty!

I measured my window and drew a couple of drawings to try to figure out how many slats I needed to save.  I'm not very good at explaining this step, but over at 365days2simplicity.blogspot.com Angela does a great job with it.  Thanks Angela!

I used fabric glue instead of the heat and bond.  That probably would have been easier, but I had the glue on hand and didn't want to go out to the store :)  The heat and bond probably makes a cleaner looking hem too.

Then I glued the slats down on the fabric.  The fabric glue didn't stick to the slats, so I used contact cement. I was afraid it would show through, but I used just enough to stick.

Then I let the whole thing dry for a while on the floor.

And ta-da!  The finished product!  Because the fabric I used has some sheen to it, it shows all the little imperfections from my DIYness...But it's still light years better than broken mini blinds!

And open...which is the way they stay mostly as this window faces the back yard.  After I looked at this picture I was able to un-stick the fabric and re-stick it so the wrinkles aren't as noticeable.

I want to try to make a small slit, or buttonhole up at the top where the cord is, because lowering the shade is kind of awkward... But now that it's up I don't want to take it down again!

We'll see how long it takes for me to get motivated for the last minute buttonhole...or how long the awkward lowering takes to annoy me enough to motivate me!!