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are you sure this was a trick and not just roller blinds with the option of top down/bottom up? Roman shades, blinds, honeycomb shades, etc. can be customized with that feature.

I don't recall the homeowner mentioning that the blinds were customizable.

I got this done for one of my old apartments years ago. They're called "bottom-up" shades (or something like that) and it's a regular roller blind, but you have to have this locking mechanism removed. It's pretty simple and the hardware/variety store where I got the blinds did it for me (yay Cliff's Variety in SF!) When you purchase the blinds, you just have to specify you want to configure them this way. Maybe Home Depot can do it..?

You can barely see them in this photo, but here's my old apartment with the "bottom-up" shades:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonwaynewong/2319374539/

It is probably easier to just get top down/bottom up shades -

Hunter Douglas and Bali both have them. (Or check blinds.com)

http://www.hunterdouglas.com/product_options_template.jsp?id=36&ovkey=top down bottom up shades&ovmtc=Advanced&category=ResearchProduct&OVRAW=top%20down%20bottom%20up%20shades&OVKEY=top%20down%20bottom%20up%20shades&OVMTC=standard&OVADID=7366781512&OVKWID=89730590012

i saw that on clean sweep once.. or was it queer eye for the straight guy.. yeah, it was that one.. a nudist who liked to walk around the house naked but wanted to have light in his house, so they installed them at the bottom so no one could see in but he could have light.. i thought it was a great idea..

yes it's easier, but top down/bottom up shades are so friggin' expensive!!!

i am watching this thread like a hawk for other alternatives.

Regular blinds can't be installed "upside down", as there is nothing holding the shade up when it's closed.

You need cords or tracks on the side and additional hardware such as bottom-up shades have.

the blinds they installed weren't roller blinds, they were the accordian style ones.. try those..

every place does it - even home depot. you just say you want bottom up blinds and see what looks you like and that fit your budget. i looked into it a while ago but i couldn't do it because i have inset window frames and handles that stick out so it was too much trouble.

I've seen this done with what appeared to be plain old roller shades (my mom used to get them from Sears). Screw an eyelet into the top center of the window frame (directly above the shade). Drill a small hole through the shade "hem" and the wooden slat inside the hem. Thread a cord through this hole, then through the eyelet. Make the cord long enough to wrap around a cleat you've installed on the side of the window frame (or I guess you could put some kind of weight on the cord to pull against the shade).

PS Install the blinds so they roll toward the room ("under" in toilet-paper debate parlance). That way you won't see the roll when the shades are up.

Why is this a good idea?

I can understand why you would want to use those shades. I think you could just rig a mechanism to hold the regular old roller shades in place--particularly if you wanted them to always hit a certain height on the window.
Wal-mart (is that a bad word on here?) sells them very cheaply, as do some discount/dollar stores and the shades should work either on top or bottom. You can also remove the metal on the ends, cut the blinds to the width you want and replace them to customize. If you don't like them plain and white, you can cover them with fabric, paint or paper. There are several sites on the internet that show how.

Oh, and ignore that "snot" person. Everything they post is negative. I don't know why he/she is so angry.

This idea appealed to me because: 1) My bedroom is located probably no more than 50-60 feet across from a very active bank, street parking and at an intersection 2) we're on the second floor of the building 3) to make matters worse, my door is right at the window. Privacy is a big issue, but I thrive on natural sunlight so installing the blinds the normal way doesn't work for my situation. Actually, I love ingenuity so seeing it on that show was right up my alley! :-)

You could also just install them half way up your windows. The top half would be open, but the bottom half would have a regular top down shade.

Just thinking here - if you want them to roll up to one specific height, you could screw little L-hooks into the window frames and drill matching holes in the blind's bottom slat. Might work ...

Follow Pvett's instructions. In addition, place an eyelet in the upper corner of the window and the cleat on the side at a convenient height. To avoid drilling into the shade, get a large shade handle and slide it onto the "bottom" of the shade. Use kite string, black string or another thin but strong string and tie one end onto the handle thread it up through the center eyelet, then through the side eyelet, and down to the cleat. Pull the shade up to the desired height.

Why would one do this? It's a cheap, creative alternative to Hunter-Douglas' expensive top-down/bottom up shades. Allowing one to retain privacy in their space by obscuring the bottom part of the window while allowing light to come in through the top. I've used this shade method for 15 years and it works wonderfully.

Why is this a good idea? Because you live in a place where people can see in, and you want privacy but still want light?

I got a bunch of top down bottom up honeycomb blinds for my new place at www.selectblinds.com - the top down feature is frequently a freebie there and I feel like I got a good deal. I love these blinds and the light they provide without compromising privacy!

Thanks everyone for your input. Apartment Therapy readers are SO resourceful!

As a cheaper alternative, you could spray the window with a coating that creates a frosted glass effect. You can find it at any hardware store in the spray paint section. It costs about $5.00 and allows both privacy and light in the room.

does anyone have a cheap source for even regular roller blinds? I want one just like the picture, but IKEA only has 2 versions, both of which don't work (1 has a white plastic ballchain mechanism which looks really cheap and awful, and the 2nd has a normal shiny metall ballchain mechanism but its blinds are completely sheer).

Any other cheap sources?

Thread a flat piece of wood through the lip. Install angled pegs at various intervals along the window frame. I don't think pegs attached to the window frame would look weird if they were the same color as the frame, plain, and ran the entire length of the window.

ummm...what's wrong with the ones from IKEA?

instead of the spray get a bottle of Matte Medium at an art supply place and sponge it on you may have to put on a few coats to get the coverage you want but you could even use some sort of mask to make a pattern. Scrapes off easily when you are done with it.

I've been looking for info on this... I'm not eager to use topdownbottom ups... cost, size, and not quite the look I want. (they will interfere with curtain mounts on the tops of my shallow windows). SO... here goes with the eyelets, cleats, and cords!

there are roller blind kits available in the UK where you make the blinds out of your own material. Has anyone seen them in the US? I can always try taking one apart and substituting.. gluing cloth or paper onto the exisiting blind usually is too heavy for the springs.

If you checkout justblinds.com you can find top down bottom up shades for pretty cheap (link is detailed explanation of this type of window treatment). I can't imagine the trouble and all of the unsightly eyelets you'll have to install could outweigh the price of the shades available at justblinds. If you're worried about the shades interfering with curtains... is it possible for you to make them inside mount? Then you should be able to mount any curtains you want outside the window frame. Anyway, just a suggestion... good luck either way!

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