Different Types Of Blinds – Window blinds have been around for hundreds of years, dating back to the ancient Roman Empire, while back then blinds would have been a simple affair, as time has gone on and technology has evolved, the world of blinds has got a bit more complicated.
Back in ancient Rome, your blind options were Roman blinds or Roman blinds because no other blinds would have been invented for a few hundred years until the people of Venice invented Venetian blinds.
But if you go shopping for blinds today, you’ll be inundated with different types and variations of blinds, from classic designs like Roman or Venetian blinds to newer types like Roller blinds or Day & Night blinds.
All this choice is good for giving you options but putting the wrong blind in a room can lead to that blind quickly getting damaged or deteriorating, which can be a costly mistake with some blinds.
So to prevent you from having to eat the cost of a damaged blind, we spoke to the blinds experts over at DotcomBlinds to let you know what blinds work where.
Specialist Blinds
Before we get into the different types of blinds, we should quickly acknowledge that specialist blinds exist.
Specialist blinds are blinds designed for specific use in a specific area, for example, bi-fold door blinds, skylight blinds or conservatory blinds.
Just from their names, you can have an easy guess at where and how these specialist blinds are meant to be used because they plainly state it in their name.
So if you need blinds for bi-fold doors, conservatories or a skylight, you’ll want to opt for their specialist blind type rather than picking a generic blind. These blinds really do what they say on the tin!
Roller Blinds
Roller blinds are the Swiss Army Knife of the blinds world in the fact that they’re incredibly versatile, which means they can be used in all rooms of your home and do a perfectly fine job of shading your windows and as they can be made with multiple different types of fabrics and materials, you can always find a roller blind well suited to any room of your home.
Just make sure you pick the correct fabric for the situation. If you’re looking for a bathroom roller blind, you’ll want one made with a water-resistant fabric; for a roller blind in your kitchen, you’ll want one made with a wipe-clean fabric; in a bedroom, you’d want your roller blind to be made out of blackout material; and then in other rooms of the home, you can opt for any type you wish.
Double Roller Blinds
Before we move on, we’ll quickly mention double roller blinds. Simply put, these are two roller blinds installed into one set of brackets, one of these blinds will be made of dimout material and the other in blackout material, allowing you to either let some light in or completely block it out.
These double roller blinds are best used in spare bedrooms as they’re suitable for using blackout at night and using dimout during the day to keep the room lit so you can use it for other purposes.
Venetian Blinds
Venetian blinds are another classic blind design, made up of multiple long and thin horizontal slats connected by cords.
These slats can be rotated to let light through or pulled together to open the blinds. These slats can be made out of wood, plastic or metal.
When it comes to where you should use Venetian blinds, it has a lot to do with the material, as each type of Venetian blind has its own pros and cons.
It’s also important to note that no Venetian blinds should be used in a bedroom as they’ll still let some light leak through.
Wooden Venetian blinds can be used anywhere except kitchens and bathrooms, whereas plastic or Venetian metal blinds can be used anywhere in the home.
Roman Blinds
Roman blinds are the classic blind; as we said, they date back to ancient Rome but keep in mind that their designs have gradually changed over the years, so a modern Roman blind is a bit different to a Roman blind you’d see back then.
For the most part, Roman blinds are almost always made out of soft fabrics like cotton, linen or wool. This makes them great aesthetics wise but restricts them as to where they can be used.
You should not use a fabric Roman blind in bathrooms or kitchens as they can be damaged by stains and water.
All other rooms, though, are fair game for Roman blinds, and you can even get Blackout versions of Roman blinds for your bedroom.
Vertical Blinds
Finally, we move onto vertical blinds. If you’ve ever worked in an office, you’re likely familiar with vertical blinds as they’re very popular in business settings.
These blinds are made up of multiple long vertical strips of fabric hanging down from a headrail.
Vertical blinds, like roller blinds are very versatile and commonly made in a whole variety of fabrics such as water-resistant or wipe clean PVC or in more traditional fabrics.
So as long as you opt for the right Fabric, you can use vertical blinds anywhere in your home.
But where vertical blinds really work best is over large windows like patio doors as they don’t impede access to the door as they open side to side rather than up and down.