No Sew Roman

Last week I posted about the curtain valance I made for over the sink in the kitchen.  And while it was cute and cheery, it offered little in the way of privacy.  Not that our kitchen window faces the street or anything - on the contrary, it faces the side of the neighbor's house and none of their main windows are in the immediate view.  But still, at night, it's the only window in the house that isn't covered.  The joy of living in the city, I s'pose.

There used to be a vinyl miniblind before the kitchen got fixed up.  It was gross and dirty and yellowed from age.  In a huff, I ripped it down and tossed it in the garbage.  It wasn't until afterwards that I found a great tutorial online about how to turn an old miniblind into a roman shade.  So I stole the only remaining one in the house from the bedroom upstairs for this project - I've been meaning to take it down for a while now anyways.

Check out littlegreennotebook's step-by-step instructions on how I did it, because I'm too lazy to show you more than a few "in progress" shots myself!  So sue me.

We all know what a vinyl miniblind looks like fully opened....moving on.

I undid the bottom rail, snipped the ladder strings (the ones that turn the slats open and closed) and removed all but 4 slats.

I bought diaper fabric - yes, diaper fabric - for the blind itself.  Weird, I know.  But it's waterproof and can be wiped clean with a cloth.  Plus, it doesn't look plastic-y like all the other waterproof materials I found.  This is the fabric laid out and the slats measured and glued to the backside of the fabric.  The books are holding the slats down until the glue dries (overnight).  The concept is that when you pull the string, the blind raises just like normal, only the slats are glued to the fabric and lift it up as well.  It's confusing, I know.  And I'm sure the most interesting thing here is the finished product.

I added the red ribbon because the glue kind of showed through to the front when it dried...easy problem to fix. And I think it helps tie it into the red walls and accents.

When it's completely lifted, it is almost hidden behind the valance and out of sight.

It's a little rough around the edges, but it works for now...until I find something else on Pinterest :)