Shorten Cellular Shades

Cellular shades are popular window treatments that . They come in a variety of colors, are available in single, double or triple pleats---also known as honeycombs---and even offer differing degrees of light filtering. When they are fully closed, these shades will compact and not block the view through the window. These shades can be ordered to fit your window exactly, or they can be purchased off the shelf. If your shades are too long, they can be easily shortened in one of two ways.

Things You'll Need

• Paper clips or clothes pins Ruler or yard stick Tailor's chalk or a bar of soap Scissors

Instructions

How to Shorten Cellular Shades

1. Shorten cellular shades without cutting any of the fabric. Lower the shade until you can't pull it down further. Look at the head rail and locate where the cord enters the cord lock. Find the plastic stopper; this allows you to adjust the cord length and thus the cellular shade length. Move the stopper to adjust how much of the cord enters the head rail of the shade.

2. Trim the cord for the cellular shade by untying the top knot from the thin cord as it goes into the cord accumulator. Move the stop ball to the spot that you want and retie the knot. Lower the shade to make sure the length is correct and the controls still work. Trim off excess cord.

3. Shorten cellular shades by trimming the fabric. Lower the shade under you can't pull it down further. Decide where the new length should be located. Mark the pleats on each side of the shade with a paper clip or clothes pin.

4. Take the cellular shade down from the window and lay it on a flat surface. From the clothes pin or paper clip, move down two pleats toward the end of the shade. Use a ruler and either tailors chalk or the edge of a bar of soap to draw a straight line from one side of the shade to the other. Turn the shade over and draw a line on the back side of the shade in the same way.

5. Remove the end caps from the bottom and remove the rail. Slip the scissors inside the pleat and cut only the front of the pleat, along the marked line. Flip the blind over and cut the back of the pleat the same way. Be careful not to cut any of the cords. Slip the plastic slat out of the bottom pleat of the cut section.

6. Locate the washers on the cords; there are knots in these cords that hold the washers in place. Cut the cords and slip the washers off. Remove the excess material cut from the bottom of the cellular shade. Take the plastic slat from the original bottom pleat of the shade and slip this into the bottom pleat. Insert the cords through the slats on the bottom, slip the washers onto the cords and tie a knot on each side. Put the end caps back on the bottom of the cellular shade.

Tips & Warnings

• If the stopper in the head rail is missing, a replacement can generally be purchased from a cellular shade installer. The color, type or name brand doesn't matte.