How To Choose Window Blinds Or Window Shades For A Room Window Or Door

Let’s go over several suggestions for you to think about when choosing your new window blinds, window shades, or wood shutters for your home.

 

 

The kitchen window is often right above the sink. Any window blinds or shades will do, but think about spills, splatters and sprays in the area. Therefore the easiest-to-clean blind is the worry-free way to go. Take a closer look at faux wood blinds. Another choice is to pick 1-2” slat aluminum mini blinds, which are easy to take care of. Both resist moisture as well.

 

 

You privacy is number one. Bathrooms, of course, are places of high humidity. Bathroom windows are often in direct contact with water. You best bet are products that resist moisture, like faux wood blinds (PVC), aluminum blinds, and vertical blinds with PVC (vinyl) vanes. We’ve put up a good number of excellent quality wood blinds  in bathrooms without adverse effects. They weren’t in a direct contact with water, though.

 

 

Here, your privacy and light control are both number one. Cellular shades with a light blocking feature are popular. Many customers choose the top down-bottom up alternative even for bedrooms. This way, they can control the view during the day. Light-blocking roller shades and classic wood blinds make an excellent choice. Of the two, wood blinds allow you to control the view during daytime.

 

 

Bay windows are usually a bit more demanding to measure for an outside mount (or a ceiling mount). If there is some space between the windows, the blinds or shades fit fine. If the space between them is small, or the windows are side-by-side, gaps may appear from top to bottom. Why? It’s because the headrails meet at the top of the bay at an angle.

The more space between the windows, the better coverage you get. As far as suggested choices go, customers typically choose pleated shades, cellular shades, or fabric vertical blinds.

 

 

Here, your décor will influence your choice. Fabric vertical blinds, sheer vertical blinds and top-down bottom up cellular shades make a good choice. But so do wood shutters, real wood blinds, or the economical faux wood blinds. We’ve put up some gorgeous woven wood shades in customers’ front room windows. They fit their home décor perfectly.

 

 

That’s a busy doorway. Most popular are vertical blinds with fabric vanes mounted as an outside mount. Sewn-in weights at the bottom of each vane make a better choice than the easy-to-break weight inserts with chains do. More delicate vertical honeycomb shades are a trendy choice as well. Vertical blinds allow for a view control, while vertical honeycomb shades filter light.

 

 

Any window blinds or window shades will do. They usually mount on as an “outside mount” and need hold down brackets. The valance choices that come with specific products need left and right sidepieces called “returns”. The returns cover the ends of the headrail and give it a finished look.

 

 

So far, we’ve installed only a handful of these. All of them were inside mounts. The versatile products that can cover arched windows are pleated shades or cellular shades specially made to open into a fan. An exact template is usually needed when placing the order.

 

 

You have a choice here. To fit an angle-top window, mini blinds, pleated shades, cellular shades, wood blinds, faux wood blinds and vertical blinds can do the job. There may be a surcharge for such a special order. If you can leave the angled part of the window open, choose a blind or shade that goes straight across the window, leaving the formed triangle open. You’ll save some money this way, too.  

 

 

They always look like something you want to have, until the sun beams down on ya. The bigger the skylight, the more heat and light gets in, of course. The most effective are cellular shades (honeycomb), which filter light and insulate well. They can open and close. The upper, movable headrail travels in tracks, or on tension guide wires. Track tension wires or magnets hold the movable rail up in the closed position.

 

 

Window blinds, window shades and wood shutters have manufacturing limits on the sizes. The headrail rigidity, the weight, the pull force on the lift cords, they all play a role in setting the limits on what’s currently possible to make, and have it properly functioning for years to come.

For an extra-large window, you can consider two-on-one headrail, three-on-one headrail arrangements of blinds. But what if what your needs exceed the limits for #-on-one-headrail choices?

A simple way around it is to order two, three, or more separate blinds or shades mounted right beside each other in the extra-large window. To give them a unified look, order a continuous valance to cover the individual headrails (if valances are available for that product).

 

 

Here, you have a few choices …

 

Remote Control – battery powered (when available)

Remote Control – hard wired (when available)

Extra-long tilt wands or cords

Extra-long pull cords

Extra-long tilt chains (vertical blinds)

Extra-long “endless” loop cords (pleated shades and cellular shades)

Extra-long control bead chains (roller shades)

Extendible pole – skylight windows
Control Placement – left or right

 

HINT: By the way, customers often forget to think about “extra length and control placement” details when ordering. But, you won’t forget now, will you?