Windows are wonderful! Whether you have got floor to ceiling, monster sized wall openings or have a more modest sized view, the windows in our homes are terribly important. Allowing natural daylight and all-important fresh air into the home, our windows are a focal point of most rooms. Choosing how to dress them though can be about so much more than pure aesthetics! Yes, we want our view to the outside world to be beautiful, but it has to be practical as well.
There are times when we will want light to flow into our rooms and there are times when we will want complete privacy and we will have different requirements for different rooms at different times. In a bedroom we might need it to be as dark as possible to allow the inhabitants of the room a lovely peaceful environment without the sun rise waking them up. In a living space we might want to allow maximum light into the room but still maintain our privacy. For patio doors and bifolds we might need to dress individual panes rather than the entire opening and let’s not forget that windows are the one area in the room whereby we are most likely to lose heat. So, choosing a thermal option might be a good choice if you don’t want all the warmth to leak out.
When choosing the right window dressing option for each of your rooms, understanding the practicalities of each variation will enable you to make a room by room informed choice based upon how you use it, so let’s have a look at all the options.
Curtains
Curtains come in a wide variety of sizes, colours, patterns and styles. Regardless of your décor there will be a style curtain to suit your room. Let’s start at the top of the curtain and work our way down!
Curtain Headings
- Eyelet curtains are curtains that have large, equally spaced holes across the top of the curtain. These curtains drop in very soft pronounced folds
- Pencil pleat curtains are ones where the top is pulled in using string. This can be a very tight pleat or a loose one.
- Pinch pleat curtains are pre-made with the pleats fixed with either double or triple pinches.
Curtain Fabrics
Curtains can come in pretty much any fabric that you want from silk, to velvet to cotton. Irrespective of the actual curtain material there are four main types of curtain:
- Sheer curtains are exactly what they say. They are made of fabrics like voile cotton which is very thin and will allow light in and a view out of the window. These do allow for more privacy than having no curtains but there is still a chance that someone could see in. These curtains also let in a lot of light and have no thermal characteristics.
- Unlined curtains tend to be made of thicker material than shear curtains so that privacy is assured and no-one can see into the home when these curtains are drawn. They do, however, allow a lot of light into the room and have no real thermal properties.
- Lined curtains have a second layer of fabric stitched to the back of the curtain. This lining protects the curtain a little more, allowing in significantly less light than unlined curtains and they have better thermal properties.
- Blackout/Thermal curtains have a very thick lining on the back and totally block out all light. They also have good thermal retention properties which prevent heat escaping the room.
Blinds
Like curtains, blinds come in many different colours, styles and materials:
- Roller blinds – These are fabric blinds that unroll to cover a window completely or partially. These blinds can come in a standard fabric or blackout/thermal material. Standard blinds will give total privacy when closed but still allow some light in and heat out. Thermal blinds offer total privacy when closed but also block out light and keep in warmth. Roller blinds aren’t always ideal for downstairs rooms as, they need to be completely down to provide privacy but that also blocks out light.
- Venetian blinds are generally available in metal, wood or faux wood materials and the thickness of the slats can vary. The advantage of Venetian blinds over roller blinds, for example is that the slats can be rotated to allow privacy but also to allow in a lot of light at the same time. The downside is that they do, even when the slats are totally rotated, allow in quite a lot of light and they don’t have great thermal properties.
- Roman blinds are perhaps the most luxurious and therefore expensive style of blind. Typically made of heavy fabric and a lot of it, the blind concertina’s into large, folded pleats as they are raised. They can be thermal and blackout lined to keep out light when they are completely down and keep heat in.
- Vertical blinds hang, well, vertically in strips which can be rotated like the slats on venetian blinds. The strips can be sheer all the way through to blackout. These are a great option for tall floor to ceiling windows and they can look rather striking. The light blocking and thermal qualities are not the best.
- Panel blinds are very similar to vertical blinds but the strips tend to be wider so they can’t be rotated. As with vertical blinds, though the fabric can be anything from reasonably shear to complete blackout.
- Pleated blinds are rather sheer paper like material which as well as being rather delicate, allow lots of light whilst maintaining privacy. They do not however, have thermal qualities. These style blinds tend to be popular in patio doors, bifold doors and conservatories as they do allow the light in.
Shutters
Shutters are available in wood, PVC or faux wood and typically get hung to the side of windows on sturdy metal hinged fittings. Most shutters also have moveable louvres which can be tilted open and totally closed. Shutters tend to be quite tight fitting to the window so there is much less light that can get in around the edges and the solid material that they are made from ensures full privacy and complete light shut out when the louvres are fully closed.
Electric Variations
Not all blinds can be electrically controlled, but pleated, Roman and roller blinds are among a few of the electric options available. Electric roller blinds simply have a motor connected rather than having the pull cord and this will then raise and lower the blind, the same goes for Roman blinds and even pleated blinds can be operated via a motor to allow much easier opening and closing. Curtains offer the same options. It isn’t the curtain that is electrified, rather the track has a motor attached to it and simply activating the motor will allow the curtains to be opened and closed.
Now take this one step further and you get app or even home assistant operated curtains and blinds? Well that is not a thing for the future, there are already smart controlled curtains and smart controlled blinds are available, they can be operated using most of the current home assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google assistant.
No need to get off the sofa to sort out the curtains or blinds, just use the App or ask your home assistant to do it for you!
So, there we have it. Those are the most common window dressing options. Don’t forget you don’t have to stick to one style across the entire home and if there is a style you like but it doesn’t block all light when you need it to or doesn’t offer heat retention, then consider using multiple window dressing options. For example, for a conservatory adding pleated blinds will allow you to enjoy natural light in the room during the summer months to and adding curtains to hang to the side will allow you during the colder months, to retain the heat in the room when you start to use them. Win, win!
