How to Install Blinds

Most blinds are a twenty-minute job with a pencil, a tape, a spirit level and a drill. The two that are not are anything above head height and anything going into a bay, and those are worth handing to a fitter.

What follows is the order to do it in, whether the blind is going inside the recess or on the face of the wall, and where a motorised headrail differs.

First, decide inside or outside the recess

Inside the recess means the brackets screw into the reveal and the blind sits in the hollow of the window. It looks neater and it is what most people choose. You will get a little light leak down each side, which matters in a bedroom and not much anywhere else.

Outside the recess means the brackets go on the wall or ceiling above the opening and the blind overlaps the reveal on each side. Choose it when the sill is too narrow, when handles or winders foul a blind sitting inside, or when you want the closest thing to blackout. It also makes a small window look bigger.

Measure for the mount you chose

Measure the width in three places and take the smallest, because reveals are rarely square. For an inside mount, measure the recess itself. For an outside mount, decide how much overlap you want each side and add it before you order, because that decision cannot be made later.

Check the blind will not stop the window opening. Casement handles, trickle vents and tilt-and-turn hinges all get in the way, and it is much cheaper to notice now.

Get the room finished first

Paint the reveal, fit the sill, finish the plastering. Putting blinds up and taking them down again to decorate behind them is the single most common reason people do this job twice.

Mark the bracket positions

Unpack everything and check nothing is missing before you make a mark. If the box has its own instructions, they beat any guide, ours included.

For an outside mount, hold the blind up with the headrail level with the top of the frame and pencil a mark just below the headrail at each end, plus one about 5mm past each end of the rail. For an inside mount, hold the headrail up inside the reveal, level it with the spirit level rather than with the window, and mark below it at each end. Older houses are not square and the blind wants to be level, not parallel to the frame.

Drill and fix the brackets

Hold each end bracket inside your marks with the bracket door facing out towards you and the closed side facing the middle of the window. Mark two fixing holes per bracket rather than one; two screws stop the bracket twisting under load.

Into timber, drill a pilot hole slightly smaller than the screw. Into masonry or plasterboard, use the right plug for the substrate, and remember that a blackout roller in a wide window is heavier than it looks. Level the two brackets against each other before the second one goes in.

Clip the valance, then fit the headrail

Snap the valance clips onto the front lip of the headrail before the rail goes anywhere near the brackets. On a blind built as several ladders, put each clip beside a ladder rather than on top of it, or the clip traps the cords.

Open the bracket doors fully, drop the headrail in, and close them until they click. The click is the confirmation the rail is captive, so if you do not hear it, the rail is not seated. Then rest the valance on its clips and press gently until it snaps home.

The last bit, and where motorised differs

If a tilt wand did not arrive attached, it hooks onto the tilt rod at the headrail. The order varies by mechanism, so follow the sheet in the box for that step.

A motorised blind fits the same brackets but goes in the other way round. Offer the rail up parallel to the brackets, seat the non-motorised end first, then push the motor end into its bracket until it clicks. Doing it motor-end-first is how people end up with the rail half-seated and the blind running out of true. Our guide to motorised blinds not working covers what to do if it runs and then stops.

If you would rather not drill at all, installing blinds without drilling covers the clip-in options, and Perfect Fit is the range built for exactly that.

When to get a fitter in instead

Four cases where it is worth the money rather than the Saturday. Anything above head height, because a blind hung 2mm out of level shows from across the room and a ladder plus a drill is how people fall. Bays and shaped windows, where every drop is a different size and the angles have to be cut. Wide bifold and patio runs, because an extra-wide roller is heavy and awkward to hold level single-handed. And anything mains-wired, which is an electrician's job before it is a blind fitter's.

We measure and fit across Berkshire and north Hampshire. See the full range, or call 01635 866600 for West Berkshire and 01189 509449 for Reading.

Fitted locally in Reading, Newbury, Thatcham and Caversham.

Last updated 25 September 2026.