Rental-friendly, no-drill, built-in magnetic blinds (No sag IKEA SCHOTTIS!)

magnetic blinds built in ikea schottis

Cheap IKEA stick-on blinds get magnetic. And built-in.

We just moved to our new apartment and it has lots of windows (very awesome) but it also wasn’t very dark with just our MAJGULL curtains (less awesome).

So we needed extra blinds of some sort.

Since we have a lot of plants, we wanted to keep the windowsill free for some of our photosynthesizing friends. So, we wanted some pleated curtains inside the window.

My parents in law have these really fancy built-in pleated blinds, but those costs like > 300,- EUR per window.

Since we’re renting we were not about to spend that kind of money.

We initially bought the SCHOTTIS blinds and installed them per instructions, but they sagged immensely. And we couldn’t get them to open completely.

The basic SCHOTTIS disappointed us greatly, but they were the cheapest option.

So, we started hacking to achieve that built-in look.

All in all I think the project for our bedroom alone cost about 120 EUR (we’ll be doing the guest room later as well), which is about 1/10 of the cost of the fancy solution we were eyeing at first. 

The installed blinds look quite nice, and really have that built-in vibe that we were going for.

Since I’m a bit short I do need a stool to close them, but that’s worth it to me. But for really small people or really high windows, that’s something you’ll need to consider.

IKEA items used: 
Other materials and tools: 
  • Plastic L trim (amount X, size Z)
  • Double sided tape (amount X)
  • Scissors
  • Saw
  • Utility knife
  • Alcohol
  • Sticky metal tape (amount Y)
  • Sticky magnet tape (amount Y)
  • Sandpaper
  • Extra person 🙂
Optional materials: 
  • Tape (same color as your metal tape)
Sizing:
  • Amount X: 2 times the height of each window added together
  • Amount Y: width of each window added together
  • Size Z: our construction was +- 4 cm deep (but this also depends on the metal tape you’re using), so you’ll need to make sure your L brackets together with your window can accommodate that depth.

Our window was +- 2.5 – 3 cm deep and we used 2.5 x 2.5 cm L brackets which worked fine. If you have deeper window you can make do with less.

DIY built-in magnetic blinds 

Measure the window width and cut the SCHOTTIS to size per instruction with the utility knife. Make sure the blind has a couple of millimeters of space on each side.

Cut SCHOTTIS to size

Now cut the metal (in our case the white one) and magnet tape (black) to the same size as the SCHOTTIS blind. Our material could be cut with scissors.  

Cut tapes

Cut the clips designed to hold the blind in a T-shape so that we can use them as handles, as per the photo below.

Cut clips to handles

Now we want to secure the metal band and the handles on the blind.

Make sure that the grey side (front) is facing you and the glossy side (back) is facing away from you, otherwise your handle will end up on the wrong side.

Remove the paper tape from the blind and stick the handles on the blind roughly the same distance from the side.

Stick handles

Now remove the paper tape from the metal tape and stick it on top. Make sure that the backsides align with each other. It helps to do it with two persons.

paste tape

Great, you now have a handle.

Magnetic schottis blind handle
Fix and install magnetic blinds

On the bottom of the blind, install the Velcro as per the instruction. (I cut each piece in half).

Wipe the window with alcohol so everything will stick better. At the top of the window, place the magnet tape. (Press hard!).

Magnetic tape

At the bottom of the window, install the blind using the Velcro per the instructions.

Enclosing the magnetic blinds for the built-in look

Take the L-trim and cut them to size (height of the window). You’ll need one for the left and right edge of each window.

Sand the cut edges so they’re smooth.

Now, with two persons, figure out how much extra room your blind needs by holding the trim in the window while the blind is down. Test by opening the blind and mark with a pencil.

Measure the depth the blind needs on the L-trim and mark along the entire length. 

Mark bracket

Wipe the L-trim with alcohol and paste the double sided tape along the marked line.

Paste double sided tape

In our case, we had some extra tape that we needed to cut away, since our double sided tape was a bit too wide.

cut away extra tape

Now, your L-trim should be ready for sticking.

ready for sticking

Remove the blind from the window and with two persons, paste the trim in the window (make sure that the tape aligns with the front of the window).

Reinstall the blinds.

Ta-da!

We noticed that the metal tape would sometimes scrape against the glass. If this is the case for you, remove the blind from the window and fold tape along the backside edge of the metal tape/blind, then reinstall the blind.

Since the magnet is placed in front, it doesn’t affect closing the blind, but it will protect the glass.

~ by Maranke