My new house had been flipped, which included replacing all the windows and doors. So when we bought the house, there were no window treatments, and as you can imagine, that’s a pretty high-priority task. We had thirteen windows to cover, and it’s one of those projects where there’s no upper limit on how much you can spend.

We briefly looked at custom-made shades. After doing a comedic double-take at hearing the cost, we decided to do the project ourselves via The Home Depot. We still wanted stylish, upscale treatments, so we ignored the budget aluminum blinds and looked instead at the higher-end of their in-stock selection. We picked cellular shades for most windows (either blackout or light filtering, as appropriate for the room) and 2.5″ cordless blinds for the bathroom and kitchen (due to proximity to moisture).

Whether you pick shades or blinds, and no matter which store you go through, the process is about the same. The store sells each product line in a few different widths and lengths. You measure your window, buy the next-largest in-stock size, and have it cut to size in store. For example, if you have a 56″ wide window, and the store sells widths 48″, 60″, and 72″, you’d purchase the 60″ wide product and have it cut to 56″. Installation took about 15 minutes per shade for us amateurs, using a drill, screwdriver, and tape measure. By the third shade or so, it was an easy, repetitive task. That said, if picking up tools is not for you, it seems that the store offers installation for around $10 a blind.

The most significant savings came from deciding to go the DIY route, but there are some additional tricks to keep a bit more money in your wallet. Here are all the ways we saved:

DIY – We could have spent over $5,000 ordering custom treatments, but we did the whole job for just under $1,000 while still picking high-quality, attractive treatments. And I’m not sure it took that much more time than it would have taken to make appointments and go through the process with a company, let alone waiting weeks or months for manufacturing.

Buying in bulk – We started with a single shade to make sure we were happy with how it looked and comfortable installing it. When the answer was yes, we bought most of the rest together because the store offered 10% off when you purchased ten or more window treatments in a single transaction.

Strategic online ordering – If the store sells 48″, 60″, and 72″ wide products, you’ll pay the same 60″ price whether you need it cut to 48.5″ wide 59″ wide. But if you order from their website, you may pay less because the factory has a broader range of sizes available, meaning less wastage and a lower price. I found that if the width you need is only slightly less than the in-stock width, you won’t save money, but if it’s substantially less, you might save as much as 25% by going the online route.

Thermal efficiency – Cellular shades are excellent at thermal insulation, which should cut down on heating and cooling costs over the years.

Bonus Thoughts

 #1 – I used a small fraction of the money I saved to buy a nice Dewalt drill set, replacing a Harbor Freight drill that had finally given up the ghost. Having reliable tools makes it even easier to choose DIY for the next project!

#2 – I particularly like the cellular shades I chose because you can add a motor kit to them, which you control via your smartphone or a remote. They don’t yet integrate with Alexa, but I’m crossing fingers that will come!