How to Replace Vertical Blinds With Curtains in Minutes
$20
3 Hours
Easy
I'm not a fan of vertical blinds and they were everywhere in my LA apartment when I moved in. Since I'm a renter, I wanted an easy way to replace them with curtains, and after trying a few different things, it turns out drapery hooks were the answer!
I removed the plastic slats from the existing clips and wrapped them up to store them (I'll have to put them back when I move out!)
Then I pinned the drapery hooks to the top of the curtains and slipped them into the existing clips. Really easy and inexpensive - I got the drapery hooks on amazon for $5 !! The curtains stay on and you can open and close them just like the blinds but they look so much nicer than those plastic slats!
After living with the curtains for a while, they just didn't let enough light in and they didn't match the rest of my apartment so I changed the curtains to white ones that let more light in. I also recovered the window cornice that I had made with ivory burlap fabric.
I made the cornice with cardboard and furring strips (1"x2") to keep it light and inexpensive and I installed it right over the existing hardware. It's perfect to hide that uninspiring plastic cover at the top.
The last step was to hang IKEA panels from a tension rod which I placed inside the cornice, in front of the curtains. It adds just the right amount of pattern without blocking any light.
You can see more details in this project and how I hid the vertical blinds in my dining room with a simple trick in the video below.
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The video below shows how I made the window cornice and how my first window treatment looked, before I changed it to the lighter white curtains and the ivory burlap fabric.
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Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
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2 of 107 comments
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This sounds like a great idea! I'm going to try this idea with more than one panel as I love a drape or soft pleats. I would have never thought of this, thank you for posting it. Keep up the good work.
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But with the addition of the IKEA panels it looks fabulous.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
where can i buy drapes without pleats or eyelets?
My verticals do not have hooks to attach to. The slats pop into holes into rod. Slats have the hooks right on them. Any ideas
What kind of curtains do you need? Like what kind of top?