Abstract: In a venetian type blind the bottomrail incorporates a take-up system to increase or decrease the effective operating length of the venetian blind to fit a specific window length by allowing the effective operating portion of the ladders to be adjusted, with the unused portion of the ladders stored inside the bottomrail. The excess length of the ladders are pulled along the length of the bottomrail and can be pulled from the bottomrail to lengthen the blind after shortening. In one embodiment the ladders are attached to a slide that can be moved along the length of the bottomrail and positioned at any desired location. The slide may contain a series of hooks and can be attached to a pull cord that runs through a clamp in an end cap. In another embodiment a series of hooks are provided within the bottomrail to hold selected ladder rungs.