How do I remove these window blinds?

[Pretty in Pink]

We live in a rental. It has plantation-style blinds throughout. I'm no fan of blinds, especially because we have littles. I worry about one of them strangling in the cords.

 

These blinds are strange. The cords are somehow threaded into the vertical tracks on the sides of the windows. It is like the cords are built into the windows or something. It's hard to describe. There are two cords on the left side of each blind (for rotating the slats open or closed) and then four cords on the right side of the blinds (these raise and lower the blinds).

 

Anyway, is there a way to remove these blinds without ruining them? We have trimmed the cords short but I still worry.

 

ETA: I referred to these blinds as plantation blinds, which I believe they are called, but they are not plantation shutters. They are similar to plastic or aluminum 'mini blinds' but these are white, wooden, and the slats are two or three inches wide.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Pretty in Pink

[Cinder]

These sound like regular blinds. They'll have a front slat at the top that just snaps in place--this covers up the hardware. Pull that off. Then look at each end. There should be the mounting hardware. It will likely have a front plate that you can pull out. It might slide into place or it might hinge upward. When you have these pieces opened you should be able to pull the entire blind straight out. I'm guessing these blinds are quite wide and require more cords to pull them up, hence the 4 cords to one side.

 

Hope this was clear enough to be helpful.

[Tap]

In a rental, I would just pull up the blinds, thumb tack up the cords, and leave them be. Especially if they all match. If anything happens to them while they are down, you could be held liable to replace all of them to match again.

[ELaurie]

and he said an blinds made in American in teh past 10 years should have breakaway safety tassels to prevent injuries. Some manufacturers also sell a safety kit to go with various models - you could contact them. You could also attach a cord cleat to teh window sill which will allow you to wind up the cord and keep it out of reach.