It's not necessary to buy new blinds if you own wood blinds that are too long for the window. You can keep the blinds you own and not have the ugly stack of panels in the window if you shorten the wood blinds to make them fit perfectly. It's easy and takes only a few minutes.
Step 1
Allow the blinds to remain hanging in your window while you shorten them. On the underbelly of the bottom blind, the bottom rail, are plugs that cover a knotted cord, the lift cord. Remove the plug and lift the bottom rail. You'll reveal more cord as you move the bottom rail. Pull the cord away from the blind and untie the knot. Do this for all the plugs on the bottom rail. Pull the center cord, the lift cord, up through the hole in the bottom rail.
Step 2
Remove the bottom rail by sliding it out the side. Pull up each lift cord so you can remove the extra wooden slots. Continue until the blinds barely touch the window ledge. This leaves the ladder cords (which look like a ladder) hanging below the slots.
Step 3
Reinsert the bottom rail into the slot created by the ladder cord, directly below the last slat.
Step 4
Slide the lift cord back through the opening at the top of the bottom rail. Set the bottom rail on the window ledge and open the blinds so the slots are horizontal. You'll need to cut the ladder strings that hang below the bottom rail.
Step 5
Clip the ladder strings under the bottom rail so you have enough string to retie. Leaving one ladder rung, clip the strings above the second rung. Cut away the center string, the rung, so you now have two strings.
Step 6
Slide the plugs you removed back onto the lift cord and tie a knot in the end of the cord to secure it. You'll have extra cord but don't worry. You simply need to raise the blinds, and it removes the slack.
Step 7
Tie the strings from the ladder cords into a knot under the bottom rail. Stuff the knot into the holes in the bottom rail and then put the plugs back into the holes to hide the knot. You may need to trim the ladder cords a bit, if the plugs refuse to go into the hole. Test your newly shortened wooden blinds.
Skill: Moderately Easy
Ingredients:
- Scissors
Keyword: shorten wood blinds, shorten wooden blinds, wood blinds, wooden blinds
