How to avoid cleaning mini-blinds

In less than 2 weeks, our house is on the Benton House Historic Home Tour.
This means that a) we are crazy and b) we have a lot of work going on over here to get this bungalow ready! Months ago I made a list of random odd jobs I wanted to check off before the show....now Im revising the list and re-naming it, "Things that REALLY have to be done before the show". As crazy as it was for us to sign up for this with 3 young children, it has lit a fire under us to finally finish a few things around here:)

One project that made the revised list was window treatments for the guest/student room on the first floor. Ive had horrible mini-blinds in there for years and the thought of cleaning the dirt and dust off of them, only to be left with the clean ugly blinds seemed ridiculous. So, I decided Roman shades would be perfect. After a quick internet search, I realized that Roman shades cost a fortune. Plan B was another search to find out how to make them (Ive made all the other window treatments, but Roman shades have always intimidated me). Im my search I found a brilliant tutorial on repurposing mini blinds into Roman shades. Bingo. Not only cheap, but re-using what I have...I like it.

So I headed straight to Jo-Ann with my labor day coupon and got a great deal on bottom weight fabric (cheaper than home interior and perfect for blinds! *but not as many options in terms of design)

I started with this:

And ended up with this!

Total time: about an hour and a half.
Total cost: $ 7 per window

I think I'll make another pair for the kitchen:)
Find the Roman Shade tutorial HERE