If you’re a homeowner, eventually you’ll need to learn the art of DIY, when everything in your home is your own responsibility, it’s often more economical to fix or install things yourself rather than hiring a contractor to do it for you (Usually at an outlandish cost). So it’s important for homeowners to know their way around a toolkit to avoid having to pay out every time something breaks around the house.
We’re not recommending you dive headfirst into the deep end of DIY and start playing about with your plumbing or electrics in your home (Some things are best left to the pros) there’s still plenty of things you can do to get the basics of DIY down and build some confidence in your abilities, small activities around the house like putting up shelving units, painting walls or hanging up pictures are a good place to start if you’re new to DIY.
One such easy DIY task is the measuring & installation of window blinds, this should be an easy job even for DIY newbies and as such is the perfect task for building your confidence. While there’s not much to this task, DIY newbies will be unfamiliar with what they need to do, so to help you out, today we’ll be walking through how you measure for a blind and how to install them in your windows.
Because there are so many different types of blinds, we’ll keep it simple and focus on Roller Blinds as they’re the most popular type of blinds for residential buildings. Other types of blinds like Roman Blinds or Venetian Blinds will be slightly different, but most of these instructions should be applicable no matter what style of blinds you choose.
What you’ll need for this task: An Electric Drill (with 5mm Drill bit), a Tape Measure, a Screwdriver, and a Spirit Level.
So, now you’ve hopefully gathered all the tools you need to crack on with this task, let’s go through what you need to do next.
Measuring For Your Blinds
For our instructions, we’ll be talking about how to measure for a ‘recess fit’ blind. What this means is that the blind will be installed within the recess of a window, rather than over the wall which is called ‘exact fit’. For ‘exact fit’ blinds the process of measuring is the same, but once you have taken your measurements, all you need to do is add an extra 10cm to the drop of your blind and an extra 10cm to the width.
So, to measure your window recess for a ‘recess fit’ blind, all you need to do is measure the drop and width of the window recess with your tape measure, so just simply measure the gap wall to wall on either side of the recess and then again from the top of the recess to the bottom of the recess.
Be sure to take your width and drop measurements from a few different locations, not all window recesses will be perfectly straight, so you want to make sure your blind will fit within the recess. Once you’ve taken 3 width measurements and 3 drop measurements, just pick the smallest of both and you’ll be fine.
Once you have your width measurements and your drop measurements sorted, you’re ready for the next step of the process which is ordering your blinds.
Ordering Your Blinds
Once you have your measurements for your blinds, you’re ready to order them. Again, this is actually simpler than it sounds, rather than dealing with local tradesmen who can be unreliable or high street brands which can be costly, you just need to find an online blinds retailer who offers a made to measure service (This means they’ll make your blind to your exact measurements).
So, once you’ve found a reputable made-to-measure retailer, simply find a roller blind you’d like to order (for Roller blinds, there’s not much difference between fabrics, so just pick a color you like) and put your measurements into the website. This should instantly pull up a quote for your blinds, make sure you double-check your measurements, and then simply add it to your basket as you would normally when shopping online.
Once you’ve ordered your blinds, just sit back and wait a few days for them to manufacture your blinds and get them sent out to you! Also Read – How To Build A Retaining Wall Step By Step Guide
How To Install Your Blinds
Again, we’ll be focusing on ‘recess fit’ blinds rather than ‘exact fit’ blinds. The process for ‘exact fit’ blinds are similar to the ‘recess fit’ but are installed on the wall rather than within the recess of the window.
To start the process of installing your ‘recess fit’ roller blinds, you’ll first need to empty out the box they came in, you should find the blind as well as the screws and brackets you’ll need to install your roller blinds. Once you have everything out you’re ready to go, just simply follow the steps below.
- Hold your brackets up to the top corners of the recess facing down and use your drill to drill holes in where they’re marked on the bracket.
- Once your holes are ready, use your screwdriver and the screws that came with your blinds to screw your brackets into place.
- Once your brackets are secured, slide on your bracket covers.
- When bracket covers are installed, slot the roller blind into the brackets, starting with the side that does not have the chain on, then slide in the chain side of your blind.
- Once your blind is in place, use your spirit level to make sure your blind is straight (if not you’ll have to start again). When your blind is straight you’re finished!
Wasn’t that simple? You have now just finished this task and should have a lovely new set of roller blinds to show for it. Now you’re ready to go deeper into the world of DIY and try some more technical tasks!