For two years, the blinds in our living room had one slat that stuck out at an angle, like a crooked tooth. Every time I raised them, the cord tangled. Every time I lowered them, they came down unevenly, one side drooping lower than the other. Olive once chewed the end of the wand. They were the first thing I saw every morning when I sat down at my desk, and this fall, with the light already fading earlier, I finally decided I was done looking at them.
The problem: we rent, our lease says no new holes without permission, and I wanted any change to be something I could completely undo before move-out.
Step one: ask before touching anything
I emailed our landlord and asked whether we could take the blinds down, store them safely, and hang curtains instead. I promised we'd reinstall the blinds before we ever moved out. He replied the same afternoon: fine, as long as no new holes went into the walls and the blinds went back up at the end. Easy.
I saved the email in the folder where I keep our lease and move-in photos. Anything a landlord agrees to in writing goes in there.
How we hung curtains without drilling
Our windows have a deep wooden frame and the blinds were mounted with two small metal brackets inside it. That turned out to matter.
Living room: rods that use the blind brackets
There's a type of curtain rod bracket designed to clip into the existing blind brackets, so the rod sits slightly outside and above the window without any new holes. Ours cost about $24 for the set. I unclipped the blinds, slid the new brackets into the old blind hardware, tightened a small screw that presses against the bracket (not the wall), and the rod sat solidly on the first try.
Sam was skeptical it would hold lined curtains. It does. Olive has tested this personally by attempting to climb one, and both she and the rod survived.
Bedroom: a tension rod inside the frame
The bedroom window is smaller, so we used a simple tension rod wedged inside the frame. It cost $12 and took about two minutes to install. Since it sits inside the frame, the curtains cover the glass rather than the wall around it, but in the bedroom that doesn't matter much. We hung blackout curtains there, and Sam, who leaves for the clinic early, now sleeps through sunrise on weekends.
Picking the curtains themselves
Our living room faces north, so we never get harsh sun, just a soft, gray light. I didn't want curtains that blocked what little light we had during the day. Here's what we ended up with:
- Living room: two panels of lined cotton in a warm oatmeal color, $38 for the pair. Lined, because it hangs better and it will help with drafts once winter arrives. Light enough in color that the room doesn't feel smaller.
- Bedroom: two blackout panels in a muted sage green, $30 for the pair.
A few things I learned while shopping:
- Measure twice. Our windows are slightly different widths, and I'd assumed they were the same. They're not.
- Go long. Curtains that just brush the floor (or stop right at the windowsill on purpose) look intentional. Ones that stop awkwardly in between look like they shrank.
- Get panels wide enough to gather. Two panels together should be roughly twice the width of the window, or they look flat and stretched when closed.
What we did with the blinds
This part is boring but important. I took photos of the blinds in place, then took them down, wrapped each one in an old sheet, labeled them ("LIVING ROOM LEFT," "LIVING ROOM RIGHT," "BEDROOM"), and slid them into the back of the hall closet with the little brackets and screws in a zip bag taped to the bundle.
When we move out, it should take about 15 minutes to put them back. I'd rather do that than explain a missing set of blinds to a landlord holding our deposit.
The total, and the difference
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| No-drill rod brackets + rod (living room) | $24 |
| Tension rod (bedroom) | $12 |
| Lined curtains (living room) | $38 |
| Blackout curtains (bedroom) | $30 |
| Total | $104 |
It's the most visible change we've made to the apartment for about a hundred dollars. The living room looks softer and more finished, like someone actually lives here on purpose. The windows look taller. And there's no crooked slat staring at me while I answer emails.
On the first evening after we hung them, I drew the living room curtains at dusk, turned on a lamp, and sat on the couch just looking at them for a while. Sam asked if I was okay. I told him I was having a moment with some fabric. He let me have it.
