TikTok's Shower Curtain Hack Will Take Your Boring Windows From Drab To Fab
Curtains often play a crucial role in home design schemes — without them, our interior style can look incomplete, it's difficult to control the lighting, and, in some cases, an abundance of sunlight can damage your wood floors or discolor your leather couch. Still, selecting and buying curtains is easier said than done. Difficult factors, such as cost, style, color, and size, might cause you to settle for an option you don't really like, wasting money on something you'll replace sooner rather than later. Instead, consider following TikTok's no-sew DIY for custom Roman shades that you can make with a shower curtain.
This shower curtain may be used, thrifted (make sure to wash it), or brand new, depending on your budget. When choosing your shower curtain, consider its thickness and opacity. If you're creating Roman shades for your kitchen, you might opt for a sheerer curtain, while for bedroom shades you might be better off using a material that blocks the sun and provides more privacy. After the shower curtain, mini blinds are the most essential item you'll need. Bonus points if you already have blinds hanging in your windows; as long as you don't mind taking them down and altering them permanently, you can repurpose your old or broken window blinds — or buy them on Amazon starting at about $15. Other supplies you'll need include a screwdriver and glue, preferably a strong adhesive, like E6000.
Creating Roman shades from mini blinds and a shower curtain
Making your own Roman shades is easy with just some simple steps. As TikTok user @redeux_style, Sarah Teresinski, points out in her video, this DIY has been around for a long time with tutorials dating as far back as 2009. For at least 14 years, it has been tweaked, revised, and updated countless times by DIYers all over the internet, including Teresinski, who has popularized using a shower curtain instead of regular fabric to make the hack more affordable with other patterns to choose from.
With the supplies ready, Teresinski begins the process of creating her Roman shades by cutting the shower curtain to the size of her mini blinds, leaving roughly 2 to 3 inches of extra fabric on the sides. She uses a no-sew method with an iron and glue to hem them for a professional look before moving on. With the same glue, the top of the curtain is attached to the top of the face of the headrail. From here, there is no going back. Teresinski starts breaking most of the plastic slats, leaving single slats intact approximately every 6 to 8 inches. Finally, with the curtain and dissected blinds laid flat on the floor, she glues the fabric to each plastic slat — pulling it taught as she goes. When the mini blinds are installed again, she controls the shade from the bottom, pulling it up and down to show off her beautifully pleated Roman shades.
Customizing your shades for durability, style, and accessibility
Teresinski says she loves her DIY Roman shades made from shower curtains and refers to them in other videos, but with time, she has also tweaked this DIY to accommodate different types of blinds, styles, and crafting skill levels. In a more recent video she posted, the TikTok DIYer used a faux velvet curtain and thicker vinyl blinds to create similar Roman shades. This time, because the fabric was thicker, she opted for hot glue and made a design on the curtain with paint.
There are countless ways you can alter this DIY to suit your preferences. Beyond simply swapping out the type of fabric used or the glue, many people have also added trim to the edges, finished the hem by sewing, and used corded mini blinds when that was all they had to work with. Before making your own Roman shades, take the time to pick out the right fabric since it will be the star of the show — visually speaking. Additionally, find something that isn't too thick; you want it to fold nicely when you raise the curtain, so bulky options with 3D elements are a no-go. Like with any curtains, you'll want to pick a design that speaks to you and meshes with your personal aesthetic. Roman blinds are one of the most stylish window treatment ideas, and now you can make your own with just a few simple supplies.