Remove Blinds from Your Windows Step-by-Step

Removing your blinds is an easy DIY task, one that can help to change the entire feeling of a room. Perhaps you’d like to replace them with wooden shutters, vertical blinds, or brightly colored curtains. Maybe you’d like to replace your dirty, broken blinds with new, clean ones that are easier to operate or that come in bright colors. Whatever style you’re going for, taking down those old blinds can be done in no time, making room for your new, preferred style of decor.

Step 1 - Open Blinds All the Way

The first thing you’ll want to do is open the blinds all the way in order to prevent them from being damaged during removal. To do so, pull the cord for the blinds all the way down until the blinds are as high as they can go and pressed up against the top cover and metallic bar at the top of the window.

Step 2 - Remove Top Cover

To access the brackets that hold the blinds in place, you’ll have to remove the cover located at the top of the blinds. This is the wider plastic piece that goes across the top of the blinds. If you don’t see a cover that hides the metal piece at the top of the blinds, skip to the next step. If there is a cover there, carefully pop it off and pull it away from the brackets.

Be careful not to push or pull too hard as this cover can become fragile over time and too much pressure can cause it to break into many little pieces. Some covers are held in place by several metal clips that you can pop open or off with a flat head screwdriver.

Step 3 - Locate the Brackets

There are many types of blinds, so there’s more than one way they can be mounted to the wall at the top of the window. Take a minute or two to take a closer look at the top of the blinds, in order to locate the brackets holding them in place. Sometimes these can be metal pieces that run in front of the blinds, one on the far right side of the blinds and one on the far left.

These are the easiest to locate because they hold the blinds and latch around the front, so they're easy to spot. Otherwise, the brackets may be located above the blinds in the small space between the blinds and top of the window, attached to the wall.

Step 4 - Pop the Blinds Loose

Get a small, flat head screwdriver and use it to pop open the clips or brackets holding the blinds in place. Be sure to hold onto the blinds while you do this, in case they loosen quickly and fall toward you. Typically, you should be able to pop the brackets or clips open with the flat head screwdriver without the blinds falling. These clips simply keep the blinds in place.

Step 5 - Pull the Blinds out from the Window

Now that you’ve popped open the brackets, simply grab the top of the blinds with two hands, one near each end. Pull the blinds outward toward the middle of the room and away from the window, holding them evenly.

The blinds should remove from the window rather easily. If they are not, inspect the top of the window again for additional brackets or clips that you may have missed the first time. Most of these clips and brackets can be unhooked with that same flat head screwdriver.

Step 6 - Install New Blinds or Remove Hooks

At this point, you can install your newer, better blinds the same way you removed the old ones. If you’re doing away with your blinds altogether, check the mounting hooks and brackets to see how they were installed. Most of these are attached with screws that can be removed easily with a screwdriver. Once you get rid of any remaining hardware, patch the holes with wall putty. Paint over the holes, if needed, and decorate your windows however you wish.