If you’ve ever bought a set of blinds, you’ll surely know that there are a lot of different varieties and styles that they come in, which can make it hard to know what type of blinds you need for your home. With so many different styles of blinds, it can feel a bit overwhelming to pick one out of all the options, especially if you’re not well versed in all the things that make them different.
So, to help reduce the chaos that is shopping for blinds, we’ve teamed up to write this article with the blinds experts over at DotcomBlinds.com who are one of the UKs leading blinds suppliers and know everything there is to know about blinds and what sets all the different varieties apart.
Roller Blinds
You’re probably already familiar with roller blinds, they are the most popular type of window blinds. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re a blind that is attached to a rolling tube, as the tube rolls it can pull the blind up or let it drop downwards and is often controlled with a chain.
These blinds are the most versatile type of blinds you can buy, as they will work well in any room of your home and can be made with a wide range of materials, meaning that no matter your needs there is a roller blind perfect for you. As well as being versatile, roller blinds are usually the cheapest blinds option due to their simplicity.
Roman Blinds
Roman blinds are the classic blinds design, with their origins being traced back to ancient Rome around 2,000 years ago. These blinds are made up of a long sheet of fabric with strings threaded through and attached at pleats, meaning you can let the blind hang down or pull the strings to lift the blind when you want to close them.
When it comes to style, few blinds can compete with the style of a Roman blind, as the pleats in the blind and the fact they’re usually made of a high quality fabric gives them a level of stylishness that’s hard to beat. However due to the design of these blinds and the fact they usually use higher quality fabrics, Roman blinds can be rather expensive and aren’t incredibly versatile as if used in kitchens or bathrooms they can get water damage..
Vertical Blinds
If you’ve ever worked in an office, you’ll likely be familiar with vertical blinds. These blinds are made up of long slats of material connected to a rail that hang downwards, you can operate these blinds either by sliding the slats to the side or rotating them to open the blind.
While vertical blinds don’t have the style credentials of some other blinds, they make up for it by being very inexpensive and easy to use. These vertical blinds are usually quite versatile, but it’s recommended that you don’t use them in your bedroom as light may leak into your room in gaps between the slats.
Venetian Blinds
Venetian blinds are another classic blind that dates back to ancient Italy, but rather than being from Rome like the Roman blinds, these blinds have origins in ancient Venice. These blinds are made from horizontal slats of wood, plastic or metal, that are connected by a string that runs through them at either end of the slats.
These blinds can be operated similar to vertical blinds, as the slats can either be rotated to let light through or pulled together upwards to open the blind for the window. These blinds can also be quite cheap, but their price will vary based on what they’re made from with plastic and metal venetian blinds being cheaper and real wood venetian blinds being more expensive.
Other Things To Consider When Buying Blinds
Now you know the differences between the most common types of blinds, there are a few more things you should know about blinds before you pick a set for your home.
Blinds Material
The material that your blinds are made of is very important, as the material will dictate what rooms of your home they can be used in, having a blind made of the wrong material in the wrong room will quickly lead to that blind being damaged in one way or another.
To avoid having to prematurely replace your blinds, you should consider the material. Materials like cotton, wool or wood should not be used in bathrooms or kitchens as they can easily pick up stains and water damaged – but metal blinds or plastic blinds will work perfectly in a bathroom or kitchen.
Blackout Or Dimout
When you buy roller blinds or Roman blinds, you’ll have the option to choose whether you have a ‘blackout’ fabric or a ‘dimout’ fabric, while this may not seem like a big decision it can have a massive impact of how your blinds work.
Blinds with ‘Blackout’ fabric will completely stop light from coming through the blinds, which makes these blackout blinds perfect for being used in the bedroom or a home cinema as they’ll help create a dark environment.
Whereas blinds with ‘Dimout’ fabric will still stop light from pouring through your windows, but will still let some light leak through the fabric, which makes these blinds good for living rooms and kitchens as they’ll secure privacy but won’t completely block out incoming natural light.
Recess Or Exact
When measuring for and installing blinds, you need to know whether you’ll be fitting your blinds within the windows recess, or outside the recess. It’s important to know as this will have an impact on the overall size of the blind and how it’s installed.
If you opt for a recess fit window blind, the retailer will make some deductions to the overall size of your blind to allow it to fit comfortably within your windows recess and account for the size of the blind brackets.
Whereas if you opt for a blind fitted outside of the recess which is known as an ‘exact fit’ blind, the retailer will make no deductions to the size of your blind and you should add an extra 10cm to your width and drop measurements to allow the blind to overlap the recess and block out light which could leak past the edges of the blind.
