Tools you will need (not shown, painters tape and scissors)
I have been so busy thinking about and working in the yard that I have not made as much progress on my Dining Room as I would have liked. I did manage to mostly finished the window treatments a little while ago. I thought I would give a quick rundown.
The Background:
Our old roman shades had been recalled from Ikea a while back because they were considered a choking hazard. We cut the cords on the back rather than taking them down, since we did not usually open them anyway. But they were still looking pretty dingy after many years of service (including when this room was our kitchen).
Shade taken apart for cutting. I used the self-healing cutting mat with a grid to help make a straight cut. Because the fabric is semi-sheer I could see the grid behind.
The Roller Shade:
I didn’t want to pay for custom roller shades so I looked at Ikea for options. I found the ENJE solar shade (semi-transparent) but of course it wasn’t the right size and I really wanted an inside mount fit so we wouldn’t cover the window molding. After a little searching online I found that several people have “hacked” the ENJE shade to custom sizes. Check out Door Sixteen for her full details with lots of pictures (which she unfortunately didn’t post until after I had already cut mine).
The Install:
1. Buy ENJE shade in a width wider than what you need (for my 30″ windows I bought the 32″ wide for $24.99)
2. Figure out the width you want including the hardware.
Shade installed in first window.
I had to subtract about an 1 1/2″ from the clear width to the final fabric width to include the chain mechanism and the mounting hardware.
3. Carefully disassemble the shade. This includes taking off the bottom rail and the mounting hardware on the top with a wrench or screwdriver.
4. Cut the side of the shade fabric with an exacto or scissors (see picture).
5. Cut the lower rail with a hacksaw.
6. Cut the upper rod with a hacksaw (protect shade fabric with painters tape). I managed to gouge my finger doing this so be careful.
7. Reassemble.
8. Hang. (you will need wood screws for this since Ikea does not provide them).
The first one took me about an hour and a half. The rest took about 45 minutes. I have finished 4 windows and I am still debating whether to put shades on two of the smaller windows. i really like them. They are unobtrusive but provide a nice amount of privacy.
