Post #239996 by MsSwanky on Tue, Jun 27, 2006 4:18 PM

Last year Swanky and I had plastic blinds on our side porch that had a bamboo look. They were great for shading the porch and for privacy - they were also quite effective at blocking out an awful street light. Over the summer the plastic became quite brittle and eventually fell apart. This year we opted to buy the real thing and bought matchstick bamboo blinds ($9.99 at Big Lots). They look great but we quickly realized they provided little shade and no privacy.

This is a shot of the matchstick blind at one end of the porch - Before

We decided to look for some inexpensive fabric to attach to the blinds to make them more useful. We thought about just getting some cheesecloth or checking for deals at fabric stores. Then a few weeks ago we went to Target and were browsing their clearance items when I found a really great (cotton) tropical shower curtain on sale for $13.98 and it just happens to be the exact same measurements (72x72). We wired the metal grommets to the bamboo rod at the top. I had hoped we could just leave it that way so it could be taken apart and cleaned, but it just billowed like a sail. So, one can of spray adhesive later...

Voila! Very cool, custom bamboo blinds. From the street they look like ordinary blinds, it makes for a nice surprise when you step onto the porch. They now work great to keep out light and wandering eyes. They completely changed the look and feel of our porch - making yet another space in our home tropical. We ended up buying three of these shower curtains in all so our entire porch is surrounded with this design. We are planning to go back and purchase the coordinating door mat as well. So if anyone is looking for a way to spruce up your blinds make note that a standard shower curtain should be the same size if your blinds are 72x72.
I tried to find pics on Target's site but no luck. The collections/style name is Ipanema leaf.