Making the Most of Repurposed Wooden Blinds

Andra Van Der Westhuizen
by Andra Van Der Westhuizen
3 Materials
$2
2 Hours
Easy
Recently, I lent a hand to friends who moved into their brand new home. They had taken along and installed wooden blinds that fit the lounge window in width, but not length. I suggested a woven 'frill' at the bottom to add an eye catching finish and distract from the open space between the end of the blinds and the windowsill.
I started this project by lowering the blinds to gauge the area between the bottom of the blinds and the windowsill - and contemplating what kind of finish would look good - tying in with the colour of the bricks and curtains. Deciding on simple macrame knots ending in tassels - materials were very basic and inexpensive, in fact, I only needed some string!


The next step was to measure the string - plus a little bit extra to compensate for the knots - and snip, snip, snip - cutting up the whole ball of string. I then played around with the spacing of each strand until I was happy with it. This was not an exact science project and one can make the frill as dense or sparse as you wish.
Each string is looped around the bottom slat of the blind, then tied to each other to form a row of linked knots. The third knot was the end knot, and the end of the string then unravelled to form a tassel. This window has two blinds, and each one has its own finish so that it can be operated individually. The tassels on each end were cut shorter than the others for point of difference.
Cut the tassels so that is sits on the windowsill - and there you are - repurposed blinds with a basic finish to make it pretty and purposeful.
Check what it looks like from the outside....
And voila! Friends happy with the end result!
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 11 questions
  • Lisa Ingram Lisa Ingram on May 01, 2018

    Wonder if this would work on metal blinds?

  • Linda joy Bruin Linda joy Bruin on Mar 05, 2019

    What a cool idea. My husband retire from navy has always had a thing for the different knots. For him to say he liked this ideal I have to try. But will it work on regular blinds. And can u paint to change the color of white to a light blue

  • Linda joy Bruin Linda joy Bruin on Mar 05, 2019

    Thank you but I was asking can u paint the regular blinds. If so what kind of paint do i need

Comments
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2 of 171 comments
  • Linda D Linda D on Aug 24, 2020

    I am definitely inspired!!! Thank you for such a cute idea.


  • Johanne Palange Johanne Palange on Aug 12, 2021

    I was prepared to dislike it, but you know what? I'm impressed with the final look. That bit of fringe dresses it up so nicely. Well done.

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