This week I’m celebrating my 2 year blogging anniversary.  If you didn’t enter yesterday’s giveaway, you can find it here. 

All this week I’m counting down my top 5 blog posts.  You can see #5  here.  So let’s check out what made #4 on my Top #5 Blog Post List.

{Mini Blind Makeover}

A few weeks back I shared some pics of the window treatments in our master bedroom and I promised to share all the details from the fabric to the “how to” details… well I finally got it done!!!

Can you believe I made these with the cheap, ugly mini-blinds that were hanging in our house when we moved in!!!  Yep that’s right.

These gorgeous roman shades started with a $3 mini-blind!

I came across some tutorials of transforming your mini-blinds and knew that when I got around to our master bedroom makeover that I would be using them.

First let me give you a list of what I used:

{Supplies}

Cheap mini-blind

Black out shade or something to use as a backing (not necessary, but helps it keep it’s shape)

Fabric you love ~ Mine is Richloom Platinum Collection Jayda Printed Linen Blend Drapery Fabric in Bramble.  I bought it at Fabricguru.com

Scissors

Fabri-tac glue

{How to}

1st ~ Measure your window.  Add 1-2” to each side.  So, if your window is 40×50 then you need your fabric to be at least 42-44”x52-54”.  You also need to decide how many folds you want your shade to have.  This will determine how many slats you will keep.  I spaced mine about 11 1/2 inches apart, which gave me 4 slats and then the bottom piece.  (I promise this will make more sense as you read on).

2nd ~ Release your mini-blind so that it’s lowered all the way & take them down and sprawl them on your floor.

3rd ~ Cut away the thin, ladder-like strings.

Don’t cut that thick one!!!  That is the cord that raises and lowers the blinds – you will need that!

4th ~ Use a small screwdriver and pop off the plug on the bottom piece of the blinds.  Inside you’ll see the end of that thick, pull-up cord tied in a knot.

I just cut the knot off  (You will retie this at the end) and slide off the base piece.

5th ~ Slide off all the slats, except for the ones you need for your folds (4 for me).

6th ~ Onto the fabric!  I cut my blackout liner to the exact size of my window.  Then I cut out my print fabric 1  1/2” larger on all sizes.  I ironed the print fabric  and then placed it print side facedown and the blackout liner on top.  Use your Fabri-tac glue to glue the edges of the print fabric onto the blackout liner.

7th ~ Place the remainder of the mini-blind on top of the glued fabric, placing the top at the top of the fabric.  Glue the mini-blind top onto the blackout shade making sure you do not glue the pull-up cord of the blinds.

8th ~ Measure out where your slats will be on your fabric and glue the concaved  side of the slat (the side with the most surface area) onto the shade.  Make sure you DO NOT get any glue on the pull-up cord.

9th ~ Now take the end of the pull-up cord and reinsert it in hole on the base of the shade.  Re-tie a knot at the end of the string and put the plug back in.  Glue down the base of the shade at the bottom of the fabric.

10th ~ Hang your GORGEOUS shade!

I LOVE how they turned out!

You can check out here for a fab tutorial that helped me out!

Hope you enjoy the flashback to my 4th most popular post.

The Power of Paint Party will be up tonight along with a great paint giveaway!!!

See you then…