Bamboo Blinds to Roman Shades DIY

Our new house came equipped with white bamboo  blinds on every. single. window. I appreciated the cohesiveness, but it wasn’t my style. I hung curtain rods and drapes on all the windows but two, one of which being the kitchen.bamboo blind makeover to roman shades diy before

Pretty bland, eh?

I’ve looked around for a cute fruit or vegetable fabric since I decorated our first house, so when I saw this stuff:

hemtrevnad-fabric-assorted-colors__0372145_pe552146_s4

at IKEA, I jumped at it and cut myself a yard and a half. Because I’ve been dreaming of a kitchen reminiscent of a Goofy cartoon since I was a kid.

Goofy Diet Cartoon 1951.gif
Don’t judge, we all had weird childhood dreams. Mine were of decorating with kitsch, of course.

Though I originally intended to sew two panel curtains, I knew they’d just get splashed on from washing dishes and that the style that was already there was going to let in the most sunlight. So I decided to just transform them into faux roman shades.

 

Materials & Supplies:

  1. bamboo blinds
  2. fabric
  3. fabric scissors
  4. pliers
  5. staple gun
  6. iron
  7. starch
  8. spray adhesive
  9. wood glue
  10. optional: trim

Steps:

1. Iron the fabric. I used fabric starch to make sure it was extra flat.bamboo blind makeover to roman shades diy iron fabric
2. Pry off the staples along the top edge where the bamboo meets the piece of wood with the pulley system.
bamboo blind makeover to roman shades diy step

3. You’ll need only the amount of fabric that covers the front, plus one inch around each edge of the blinds. Use fabric scissors to cut the excess fabric. Mine also had a hole at the top where the string for the pulley system came through, so I cut a slit in the fabric to allow it to move as freely as before.

4.Spray easy tack adhesive on bamboo blinds, then press fabric firmly and evenly upon it.bamboo blind makeover to roman shades diy spray adhesive

5. Fold over the inch of excess fabric, add glue, then apply pressure. I used books. bamboo blind makeover to roman shades diy wood glue6. Repeat on all edges.

7. Use staple gun for corners and everywhere you removed staples in step 2.

8. Hang it back up!bamboo blind makeover to roman shades diy 1

After this, I felt like it still needed something more fun…like pom fringe. Because I’m ridiculous.bamboo blind makeover to roman shades diy

 

I love the way they turned out, they’re silly but so fun.

Bamboo Blinds to Roman Shades DIY

22 thoughts on “Bamboo Blinds to Roman Shades DIY

      1. I accidentally hit sent before I got to finish my statement… haha! What I was going to say is that I love how it adds a pop to your all white kitchen! It is a great touch!

  1. Hi Kelsie! My name is Anne and I’m with HouseLogic.com. Our visual team recently came across your DIY roman shades project, and we would love to ask your permission to use the image in an upcoming article on our website. Can you please send me an email? I would love to explain more. Thank you!

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