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On Monday I promised to return and tell you how I took my budget bamboo blinds from see-through to peep-proof in a few easy steps.
I saved a ton of dough by opting for the unlined blinds in my living room and dining room-turned-office. . . but they allowed both strangers’ eyes and cold drafts straight through the windows. So, in one afternoon I DIY’ed them into privacy bamboo shades. Here’s the scoop:
How to line and insulate Roman bamboo shades:
1. Purchase white insulating lining fabric from a sewing store.
2. Spread out the shade, fully extended, on your work surface.
3. You’ll see that pull cords run down the back of it, going through little rings. Untie the pull cords from the bottom, and remove from each ring. Leave them attached at the very top, where all the fancy hardware is.
4. Figure how much of the back of the shade you need to line. (For example, I didn’t need to extend the lining to the very bottom, because the shade is doubled up at the bottom.
5. Cut a piece of liner fabric to fit the shade.
6. Grab a glue gun to adhere the fabric to the back of the shade with hot glue.
**Notes: I found that three thin vertical rows of glue worked best. The blue arrows and numbers in the image below show how I applied the glue in three rows. The red circles show where the rows of cord loops are. Be sure not to apply glue too close to where the cord loops are.
7. Once the liner is glued to the shade, carefully use sharp scissors to cut a notch in the fabric where each metal loop is. Pull the ring through the notch.
8. Run the cords back through the metal rings, and tie at the bottom as they were before.
9. Hang your shade, and enjoy your newfound privacy.
Tips and tricks:
- If you have a single shade that is wider than 54″ you will need to line it in sections. For example, if your shade is 60″ wide, you’ll want to line it with two 30″ sections just to keep things nice and even.
- Shop around for the best price. You should be able to find the fabric for less than $7 a yard.
- If hardcore insulation, and not just privacy, is your goal – be sure to buy “insulating” liner fabric, not just privacy liner fabric.
By all means, if you are confused by my directions, please let me know so I can improve them! I really love this inexpensive privacy remedy, and hope it helps!
NICE! I’ve never even thought about doing this. Okay, so before the blinds go back up in Savannah’s room, I need to hit the fabric sttore…
Forgive the typo. My fingers are all covered in paint.
I love this idea! What a money saver…and my cats won’t be able to get at the shades!
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Ohmygoodness JANE. You don’t know how long I’ve been puzzling over how best to add privacy to my bamboo blinds. I even bought ALL THE FABRIC which is still sitting on the roll because I just did not think to hot glue it down. I think I was scared because they were all brand new . . .but I’m TOTALLY doing this now! Thank you for showing me how and for telling me that this works and won’t ruin my blinds! :)
Awesome! So glad I could help :)
I didn’t blog about it, but I actually procrastinated for about 4 months before doing it myself! How silly we can be…
Great instructions! I am going to do this to my shades! I am just curious how these have held up? Also, did any of the glue come through to the other side?
Thanks!
Hi Steph – I’m so sorry I didn’t reply to you sooner. I’m cleaning up my inbox and just saw this again.
I did not have an issue with glue coming through to the other side. I hope it worked out well for you!!
-jane
hi: your blinds look fabulous! i would like to do the same to mine but mind are roll-up, not fold-up so i’m wondering how they will look if lined because when the blinds are rolled up, the liner will be showing in the front. any other suggestions? thanks!
Hi! I wonder if you could use a patterned fabric over a plain insulation fabric? Maybe then you’d have something cute peeking out when you roll up the blinds. :)
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Thank you thank you! I recently purchased a new home that came with existing Bamboo shades. The previous homeowners had the cheap roll up shades underneath that never really roll back up once pulled down. I assume they NEVER opened the shades. I, on the other hand, enjoy natural light! Except at night when you can see my every move within the house. This is a perfect solution for my dilemma and can’t wait to get this project underway! Thanks again for the step by step directions.
We put up bamboo roman shades today, just the look I wanted, and after they were all cut to fit the windows and installed, hubby came home just after dark and informed me that they are totally see through. I told him I wasn’t going to scrap them, that surely someone has figured out a way to line them. And you have! Did you hem your liner, or is it something that won’t ravel?
Thank you so much for your easy solution!! I put bamboo blinds (the roll-up kind) in my upstairs bathroom a few years ago. I always wondered if they were see-thru, so I would always open the cupboard doors when stepping out of the shower, which helped block the window.
I finally went outside at night and stepped far away from our condo. Yikes!! I love the look of them, but holy cow, TOTALLY see-thru!
Now I know what I have to do!!
Dawn, so happy I could help! That EXACT kind of thing happened to me – heaven knows what my neighbors saw before I realized those bamboo blinds are not opaque at all!! This solution was really, really easy. The kind of thing where, once I did it, I thought “why on earth did I wait so long?!” :)
Thanks for the idea! I think I’m going to try this. My only question is, did you do anything to the edges of the fabric to keep it from fraying?
That’s an awesome part – I didn’t have to do anything as the fabric didn’t want to fray. Maybe because it’s insulated so there’s some sort of coating on or in it? But if you used plain cotton fabric that may be an issue. I used an insulated drapery liner fabric.