cutting blinds to fit...

[janek]

hi

we've had venetian blinds in our front room since we moved into our house, but they've never been quite long enough. it recently struck me in a fit of genius that if they were fitted inside the window frame, rather than outside it then they might actually reach down to the windowsill.

however... the reason they were fitted outside the window frame in the first place is that they are too big for the gap and although it said on the instructions that they could be cut we did not dare.

in the meantime we have started to sit in that room, rather than just use it as a dining room and we would now really appreciate the draught-proofing qualities of blinds that cover the whole window.

but we still have the same problem - do we dare slice up the blinds? they are wooden, with a metal bit at the top and bottom. have you done this? how did you do it? any tips? thanks.

I'm not sure you can successfully slice wooden blinds...I've seen metal ones be cut.

YOu can cut wooden just fine, if they are thin slats you may be able to use a venetian blind cutter, thicker ones you use a saw and lightly sand the cut ends.

thanks for your responses.

what about the metal bit? and do you cut each slat individually? my dad mentioned vicing them all together and cutting in one go, or several at a time at least.

what do you think? (btw my dad also has the fear about actually doing it, otherwise they'd already be done...)

You need to take excess off both ends, use a hacksaw for metal. You could use a vice/clamp to make the job easier, but you'd need to make sure you use something so as not to mark the slats with the device. You could try using duck tape over the ends you're cutting away to stop them slipping. At the end of the day if you are looking at having to replace the blind anyway does it really matter if it goes wrong?