Modifying alarm clock to incorporate motor?

Hi All,

I'm interested in modifying my alarm clock to do one of a number of things.

To give you some background I can only sleep in a pitch black room which also causes me trouble trying to wakeup as I have thick curtains and it can look like 10pm at 10am. So I've decided to modify my alarm clock (or get another one solely for the job) to open my blinds when the alarm goes off.

Essentially what I was thinking is to locate which pin of the integrated circuit activates the alarm and running a wire from that to a motor which in turn pulls on the drawstring to open the curtain. The only problem I have with this is if I leave the alarm on for more that say 20 seconds the drawstring would be fully pulled and the motor may burn out meaning I'd need to make it so the alarm activates a timer which runs the motor for a set period of time before shutting it down.

The other option was to install a hinged ledge with a weight on it attached to the drawstring. Once the alarm goes off the ledge with the weight drops and the weight drops too, pulling the drawstring with it. Again I assume I'd need a cut-off switch for this.

Does anyone have any ideas how this could be built or of any device which does the same? I don't necessarily need to use my alarm clock it could be a stand alone system (EG. I could use a watch with a timer countdown function and once it reaches the correct time instead of activating a beeping noise it could activate the motor).

Thank you all for your time :)