Bamboo Blinds

I'm not doing any window treatments for most of my windows. I like a bare window. But I do have a few windows that need something and the perfect answer is bamboo blinds! After spending everyday the past year at Lowe's I know everything they sell! And I had walked by the Levolor "custom size now" section a zillion times and thought I would give it a try when the time came. Well that's what I did. Here's how they look. This is a pretty quick, easy, and painless DIY.

You need to decide if you want to hang the blinds inside the window frame or outside. If you're hanging them inside, take an exact measurement and tell the store clerk that is running the cutting machine that they will be an inside mount. The cutting machine will automatically take off 1/4" so that the blinds don't rub the sides of your window frames. Outside mount is cut to the exact size you give.The cutting takes about ten minutes per blind.

There are stickers and warning cards everywhere telling you that the cords are a choking hazard, so try not to strangle yourself while completing this project :)

 They are cut in the box they come in and are full of sawdust. Opening them outside would be a good thing. I picked the darkest ones called Mahogany. Above is a picture of the back side(top) which is the dull side of the bamboo and (bottom) the front side, which is the shiny side of the bamboo. The stain is the same on the front and back it just looks different because the front/shiny side of the bamboo absorbs the stain differently than the back/dull side. They are great at filtering direct sunlight. They are not privacy blinds. They do make some that have a brown fabric lining if you want a privacy bamboo blind.

The hanging brackets are designed to be used inside or outside the window frame, but when inside the window frame there ends up being a visible square of the metal bracket-if you look from the outside. I like my window coverings to look just as good from the outside as they do from the inside so I cut that piece off with a hack saw.

Outside mount.
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Inside mount with extra square hanging down.

below After cutting off not-needed square bit for a cleaner look

 The wood support slides up over the hanging bolts and gets tightened with wing nuts.

Looking just as nice from the outside.

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The longest the Lowe's blinds go is 72". I have a sliding door that needed 63" wide by  98" long that I wanted the same blind for. When I tried to special order that size on the Lowe's/Levolor website it said that that size was too big. They don't make it. I found bamboo blinds on Overstock.com that let me pick that size and it was the same color as the Levolors. I have to admit that it is huge and pretty heavy. Not the easiest to lift with the cords.

 These are in a bedroom that faces the street so I added curtains for night privacy.

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