Create Your Own Top-Down Blinds

Create top-down blinds for a fraction of the cost of special order blinds!

Step 1 Getting Ready

Why Create Your Own Top-Down Blinds?

My reasons are simple. I live in an apartment. It is temporary housing, and therefore I don't want to spend the nearly $150 per window to purchase custom top-down blinds. I also need the privacy that they offer because of my ground floor apartment.


What is the Cost and Time Commitment?

This particular project was done for under $30 (that includes all three windows). This is a bargain compared to the nearly $450 it would cost to have it done professionally. It also took me only an hour to create and install (not including shopping time).




What You'll Need:

- Make sure to measure your window first!

- One set of bargain mini-blinds per window. You are only going to use the top bar and strings for this project, so the quality of the slats is irrelevant. I found some for $2.50 each on sale, $4 each regular.

- One set of temporary shades*. They should be the kind that have an adhesive strip on one end. I bought the Redi Shades that are "room darkening" for more privacy. These cost me about $6 each.
*(These shades can be substituted for something of a better quality if desired. You will simply need to find a way of attaching the more complex shades/blinds to the top bar of your bargain blinds.)

- A cutting knife ($1.50) and cutting board or hard surface.

- Tape (optional).

Comments

[ruthgct]

You only left about 5" of string. I'm confused by that. Does that mean you can only lower the blinds from the top 5"? I'd like to lower mine about 2 FEET from the top. Do I need to leave 2 feet of string?

[jen_higginbotham]

Actually I didn't remove any of the string at all. You just disconnect the bottom bar from the mini blinds, take out all of the slats, and then tie the bottom bar back on the way it was. If I wanted to, I could have lowered the top down blinds all the way down to the window sill. Hope that helps explain it!

[ruthgct]

OH! So then in Step 4 where it says "unknot the strings and allow for about 5 inches of string"...that's what I thought you meant. Sorry to be slow!! Can you explain that step to me another way? Thanks so much! I have all the blinds and plan to put them up this weekend in my 3 living room windows.

[jen_higginbotham]

I think the best way I can explain it is that the rest of the string (main cord) is all drawn up in the top and you only need a small amount to work with when you're attaching the ready shade. In the step where I talk about cutting the string I am only talking about the little strings that control if the blinds are open or closed. I have to be honest, I did this project a few years ago and no longer have any miniblinds to look at to help you. But it was a super easy project and I think once you get into it and have the blinds in front of you it will make more sense. Good luck!

[ruthgct]

OK, I get it now! Thanks so much for guiding me through it, especially from an older project. I'll let ya know how they turn out! =)

[mat9973]

So if you bought the bargain blinds...why not use them?  Sorry...might be a dumb question but I realy need you to explain it.

Thanks

[jen_higginbotham]

I'm not sure if you're asking, "why make top-down blinds at all" or "why not use the blinds instead of the ready shade".  If it is the former, it is because I live on the first floor of a very urban area and do not want to raise blinds from the bottom where people can look in.  If it is the latter, it is because you have to take the blind slats out to allow for the openness at the top - giving you privacy below but a completely unobstructed opening at the top to let sunlight in.  If you wanted to keep the blind slats in there instead of the ready-shade, you would need to buy 2 sets to combine - one to use as the mechanical (top-down part) and one that would be the regular blinds (bottom-up part).  I didn't want to affect the original blinds that were here when I moved in at all, as I'll leave those behind when I move out.

Hope that answered your question!

[bettbee]

My experience has been that the temp blinds don't hold up. I've seen some that were in a window for 3 years and they were coming to bits. I'm tempted to make some of my own for this 'ible by learning to pleat fabric.

[shutdown_exploded]

I tried this sort of from scratch, that is not using any parts from an existing blind set, just using hook-eyes as string guides and a tying up the string at whatever height. The shades folding themselves up is a serious problem, enough to almost make the whole project not worth it, but i'm still working on solutions. Some kind of guide bar to keep it from bowing out so much was one idea, but it doesn't entirely work. I also thought about applying water by cue-tip onto tho creases so as to weaken them, since it's the spring-like qualities of the blinds that make it want to bow outwards.

[shabrach]

Thank you so much for your instructions. We want these types of blinds in our hot tub room but do not want to spend a fortune on them. This will be wonderful!

[momo the dog]

thanks for this posting! it was easy to follow. got it done in 10 min. it's up and working beautifully. thanks again.

[Linksep]

Cool! This was the first intructables project I've actually DONE... It took WAY longer than it should have (2.5 hours) but I attribute most of that to the HORRIBLE instructions included with the cheap Chinese blinds (much bad Engrish). Cost me $30 (big 48"x52" window)

I looked for the shades that Warlord mentions but my local Home Depot didn't have them (that I could find... nobody around to help me.)

I looked all over online for top-down / bottom-up blinds and the cheapest I could find was $95 (likely plus shipping) so this saved me $60+ on one window! Thumbs up!

I do have to mention though, as a person that has never had top-down blinds, they look funny. I'm sure I'll get used to it pretty quick though.

[KaytiCat]

These are awesome! Great job!

[warlord]

Thank you for this Instructable. The wifey loves our new cheap top down blinds. For those who want to do the top down and bottom up blinds you can buy the "temp shade" brand from home depot. You construct them the same but this brand has a cable and clip at the bottom that can lift and hold the bottom of the shade. It also has a little weight at the base which means no need for alligator clips to keep the shade down. I'll post pics in a bit... Thanks again.

[warlord]

here are the pics:

[hcold]

Those brackets make me want to cry. So aesthetically wrong...

[jen_higginbotham]

I know what you mean. But my landlord had already put up mini-blinds in every window before I moved in. And like I said, I didn't want to spend too much on window treatments in an apartment. :)

[chucka]

You could fashion some wooden trim. Stained to match the sill and frame that once tacked on with some finishing nails would cover the unsightly mini blind mechanisms. Also, if your into working with tin you could make a nicely folded, U shaped cover that one might paint to match or polish and set over top of the blind inter-workings.

[GrizzlyAdams]

Thanks for the great idea! I'm going to suggest something though: 1: Get two draw bars per set of blinds. 2: Get an extra draw string set. 3: Drill holes in the bottom caps for the first draw bar so the second string can pass through. 4: Punch holes carefully through your pleated blinds to run the extra draw set. This way you can have both top down and bottom up blinds. Color the draw string end caps so you can tell which is which. If you're lucky a local print shop will have a hole punch meant for use on large catalogs they might let you use.

[leebryuk]

I love the shades. I will make some soon. And I also want to compliment you on the quality of the instructable. It was full of useful photographs and I found the written instructions excellent. Good Job!

[donna421]

I'm new to this site - GREAT instructions, and fantastic idea! Question: If you would want to open your windows completely, it seems this would not work so well, because the blind wouldn't fold on top of itself without falling out of the window- kind of into the room. Am I right, and do you have a suggestion for how to make that work any better?

[Endif]

See my comment above; the midrail will provide enough weight to smush the pleats/cells into a stack. Locking the strings at the point you want will ensure a stable stack. =]

[jen_higginbotham]

I have two suggestions. The expensive option would be to use regular shades (like Roman shades or double pleated blinds instead of the temporary shades) that can be drawn up like regular blinds. Then you could draw them up before lowering the top down all of the way. The cheap option (and what I do) is to just lower the top all of the way down, and then spend a few minutes gathering up the temporary shades. The ones I bought came with two alligator clips for each shade, so that you can gather them up and clip them so that they don't hang into the room. I posted a photo on another comment if that helps. Good luck!

[Endif]

I am a Hunter Douglass certified professional installer/repair tech; our company is The Blind Man. Nuff said.

This instructable works, but really, you just need a travelling mid-rail and a restring that terminates at that new midrail.

A visit to your local blind company will probably yield free parts (they toss lots of blinds in the dumpsters, having replaced them). Probably get enough string that way too (you want the right guage of nylon cord, or the cordlock wont grab).

Hope this helps. =]

[UPdrafter]

bravo! great idea. cant wait to try it.

[SMRUDOLPH]

Well done! I love this. How clever you are!

[Doctor What]

It may sound weird, but thank you for making seventeen steps. Usually other people (myself included) combine multiple steps into one. This is super easy to understand, and it produces an amazing result. (favorited) (+).

[dchall8]

Had you written this a year ago, it would have saved me about $600. Very nice. I might have to do some of the windows I couldn't afford before.

[jongscx]

So are you able to raise and lower the shades with the old blind controls? I'm kinda confused as to how it works.

[jongscx]

Nevermind, I figured it out. So you attach the heavy bottom plate off of the old miniblinds to the top of the new shade. So that when you want them down(open), you release the string and when you want them up(closed) you pull on it. Did you attach the bottom of the shade to the window frame or is it just held there by the weighted bar?

[jen_higginbotham]

It's pretty much just held there. The temporary shade that I used came with little alligator clips that I used to keep them from hanging down to the floor, so the clips add some weight too. I'm not actually sure how much the weight of the bar itself does for it, but when the shades are new they just want to stay all crimped up and not fall to the bottom of the window, so it helps. I actually did this a month or so ago, and they're still working great! A closer photo is attached (from today).

[DirectorsCUT]

GREAT!!!

[canida]

Well done! Blinds are ridiculously expensive.

[GorillazMiko]

awesome!

[xsmurf]

Very neat! Great for ground level and half basement apartments! Nice Instructables too :)