Removing Excess Blind Material

I have 2" blinds from Lowes, probably the same one. Our windows had enough over hang though. If I recall, there are little metal rectangle boxes that get mounted / screwed into the top of the window, and then the the blinds slide into the little metal box to hold it in place. These little metal brackets have numerous holes in them on both the side, and on the top. I think there were four screw holes, one in each corner on the top, and two on the side. If this is indeed the type of bracket your blinds come with, then you would most likely be able to get three screws in place (1 side and 2 in the top). Then repeat that with the other side of the blind.

This should be more than sufficient to hold it in place. I think it would look a little funny though, I would probably go with a 1.5" for looks. But you could use a valance to cover it up and no one would even know.

The best is to block the sun from the outside. Options there would be:

• plant a tree (pro: green; con: might take a few decades to get full effect)
• awnings (pro: do great at blocking summer sun; con: costs a bit, takes some maintenance, can block views)

As for the windows themselves, are they high-efficiency? Ideally you'd have triple-pane glass with low-e coatings. If these are old windows, it might be time to invest in replacing them.

On the inside, blocking it with blinds is a good bet. A light, reflective or solar shade is a good bet.

Lots of commercial establishments will use shades such as these:

http://idahocanvas.com/roller_shades.htm

(Link is merely provided as an example product.)