We’d like to thank My Direct Blinds, from Melbourne Australia for allowing us to use their product imagery for this article.
Window shades offer numerous benefits for homeowners. From increased privacy to lower energy bills, window blinds can help improve every aspect of the home. There is also an option for motorized blinds that come in multiple styles which ensure the safety of your pets and children as well as being hassle-free. If you are curious about how those work check out The Blinds Source for motorized blinds in NYC. If you are contemplating installing window shades in your home, you should be aware of the many styles available. The best way to reduce the time it takes for you to find a style that is suitable for your home is to start by finding the most popular options. To help kickstart your effort, we’ve made a list of the nine top window blind styles for you to choose from.
Vertical Blinds
Vertical Blinds are ideal for large windows. The installation requires little to no experience, which is always helpful if you are looking to DIY. You can choose from different materials types such as blockout and light filtering fabrics.
The panels hang in a vertical position on a track. You can open and close the blinds with ease utilizing a twisting rod. And, once the blinds are opened, the panels will be folded neatly on the right and left sides of the window or have them all stack to one side. The idea is to make lighting and darkening easy, while keeping everything neat and tidy. Due to the ease of use, and small time it takes to open these blinds, they are great for allowing quick access to your sliding glass doors.
Roller Blinds
Roller blinds are definitely the most popular type of window treatments sold in Australia today. These shades are available in three fabric types: Blockout, Light Filtering and Sunscreen. They are known for their ease of use and cost effectiveness. Due to the relatively inexpensive manufacturing method and materials used to create the blind, they remain a top choice for homeowners. The blinds can easily be opened and shut by using the chain control, don’t forget roller blinds can easily be motorised and in doing so will not break the bank. Being a “sheet” of fabric, they will cover the entire window and blockout the most sunlight compared to all of the other blinds on our list. Consider adding Pelmets as in the product picture to increase to the look of your roller blinds, and help with heat regulation of the window.
Roman Blinds
Unlike vertical and roller blinds, Roman blinds are usually made from higher end fabrics. They are very stylish and popular. Having Roman blinds in your home definitely exudes a luxury look. A downside to Roman blinds is their high price tag. You should expect to pay more for Roman shades compared to vertical and roller blinds.
Roman shades are available in both room-darkening and light-filtering options. Depending on where the windows are located, the light-filtering option may work fine. However, if the window is in a critical part of your home such as a bedroom or theatre room, you should probably consider the room-darkening or blockout option.
Wooden Blinds
Timber is one of the most popular materials utilized to make window coverings. This material is stylish, available in a variety of colors and sizes, durable and beautiful. Wooden venetian blinds are made of hardwood, or a faux wood PVC timber look material. For the real timber venetian blinds, you should expect to pay a little extra. While you can purchase wood shades at most big box stores, your options may still be limited. Depending on the style of windows in your home, you may need to have them customized directly from the factory. Timber look blinds are a much more cost effective solution, because of PVC being a relatively inexpensive material. Venetian blinds are timeless classics, and were actually the first blind style that were invented. The horizontal slats can easily be opened and shut with the tilt of a wand, or lifted vertically, often people will opt for venetian blinds as an alternative to plantation shutters as they are similar in looks but without the heavy price tag.
Cellular Honeycomb Blinds
Another popular style is cellular honeycomb blinds, which is often used in bi-fold door blinds. This shade is very unique, offering both light-filtering and darkening options. They are available in an array of colors and can be customized to fit your windows directly from the factory. Honeycomb blinds will provide the least light gap when fitting into the recess, and are known for their great insulation rating, helping to reduce your energy bill. For these benefits though, you should expect to pay more for this type of window treatment.
Day and Night Blinds
There are two categories of ‘Day and Night’ blinds, they can either be regular double roller blinds, or zebra blinds. Both will let you have privacy during the day and night hence the name. With Double roller blinds, they will feature and blockout fabric for night time privacy, and either a light filtering or screen fabric on the other blind for your privacy during the day. Zebra blinds are a special type of roller blind that features a sheer fabric and blockout or dimout fabric running horizontally to each other but joined on the same fabric. There is a roller tube at the bottom and top of the blind that rotates the fabric around in a conveyor like motion, the “stripes” can be rotated to line up and provide blockout, or a clear view through to the outside hence the name ‘zebra blinds’. They can also be called transition blinds.
Panel Glide Blinds
Similar to vertical blinds, they feature a much larger ‘panel’ compared to the smaller slats of vertical blinds. These are considered a fresh and modern update to the time tested vertical blinds. Panel tracks are a great option for covering your larger width sliding doors due to ease of use, simply slide open the panels with minimal effort to access your high traffic doorways. Due to the nature of the panels and how they feature an overlap, there will be no light seepage between the panels such as that with venetian blinds or vertical blinds.
Plantation Shutters
Shutters are the priciest of all window treatment options, but definitely are becoming the most popular covering option in Australia at the moment. We’ve seen a resurgence of popularity after production of shutters has moved offshore, allowing them to compete with more traditional window blinds on price point. Large elliptical slats, give off a chic coastal vibe and will increase the value of any home. Shutters are the ‘mercedes’ of window blinds, just look at the product picture, it will speak volumes – more than we can explain in just words.
Curtains
Drapery and Curtains are another luxurious option to consider. Due to the time it takes to join fabric widths they take a long time to manufacture, but oh boy will you not be dissapointed. Curtains can also be used to layer over other products and add to your look.