DIY Project: New Bamboo Shades

We started the New Year off right taking down the old, gross vertical blinds and replacing them with new bamboo shades.

When we first bought this house I started a running list of DIY projects to start ASAP. The culprits were, just to name a few, some seriously outdated (old) fixtures or seriously ugly, sometimes both. We've done tons of little DIY projects like replacing the crystal chandelier (why was that in a lake house?!?) and replacing the fan with a light fixture in the low ceiling kitchen. But this project was slightly more important to me. This project was in the living room and every time I walked by there they were. The vertical blind eye sore. They didn't just look atrocious; they barely functioned. That's on top of the unseemly color and texture of plastic masquerading as wood. Ick.

The Ugly

They only look good-ish, right before demo, because I'm a wizard with photo editing apps.

We finally took the plunge and found these bamboo shades at Lowe's for around $20 each. This was on Saturday, the day before New Year's Eve, and the last day of “nice” weather for awhile. We mostly hibernated on Sunday because of the sleet and on the first Monday of 2018, he knew I was itching to tear the old ones down, we started the madness.

For something as ugly and nonfunctional as these blinds they were fairly complicated to uninstall adding to the reasons they needed to go. First I took the blinds down off of their respective clips. Then I started dismantling the head rail which seems to have accumulated at least a decade or so worth of dust and other debris. Like most projects when you are taking something apart or down, working in stages is easier and less thrilling than having the whole thing come crashing down quickly. I needed some assistance with bolts refusing to budge but most of the demolition was all me. After everything was off the wall the debris filled two garbage cans.

The Good

Perfect just ignore the ladder...

Now on to the fun part. When I'm bored at work, or in general, I will search and scroll through different DIY projects for houses. While some seem to have a different definition of easy, I would save the ones that seemed doable and applicable for our house. I looked for different types of shades that were relatively inexpensive and horizontal. I'm not sure where the idea for bamboo shades came from but they seemed like the best option. They are relatively cheap, easy to install and go with the vibe of the house. Basically everything the vertical blinds, RIP, were not.

I wanted interior window installation but they were a bit too long for that. For now they are hanging by some nails until we finalize their placement. I love them. They let in light even when closed and open up the living room. Now I feel like I might go bamboo crazy and put them over all the windows. To be continued...

Happy 2018!