In this article we will talk about curtains and blinds. Almost every time while selecting upholstery customer get confused whether to go for curtains or blinds. Because blinds are in trend.
So, in this post is about comparison of curtains or blinds.
We will start with curtains. We are used to curtains since our childhood. Blinds are relatively new concept in residential interiors. Its been a while blinds are present in the market Initially blinds were used in commercial and Institutional spaces.
I think most of us spotted blinds for the first time in an office. Nowadays blinds are extensively used in hospitals. Irrespective of what the length of your window is, one can have curtains installed easily. Irrespective of what the length of your window is, one can have curtains installed easily. But as blind fabric is available in standard width, for example 7′ Say if Your window size is 8’ and your blind is available in 7’ You wont go for a 1’ blind next to a 7’ one.
They wont look good & it wont be feasible. You will put it up in equal parts of 2 or 3 depending on the length of the window. Or even more than that depending on the window size Say you go for 2 equal parts; the top edge/end fittings touch each other still a gap is formed between the 2 blinds still a gap is formed between the 2 blinds.
You can’t achieve 100% blackout if 2 or blinds are used. So, if you go for blinds length of window matters. Now let’s talk about the look and feel. As I said in the introduction Is your house and taste minimalistic?
At times some houses are neutral but colours added in the form of curtains and cushion covers. If you are not one of them and you want everything simple and want your window coverings to be subtle and less attention grabbing, then definitely go for blinds, as they have a clean finish and clear lines but if you observe curtains, they have a wavy fall shape which looks pretty at the same time heavy if you like minimalistic style you might not like those. In that case go for blinds.
You can create a niche in your ceiling so that the blind when opened are not visible and you have a clean look. looks neat & Beautiful if you are fond of minimalistic style you can still go for curtains with plain, simple linear pattern translucent sheer specially the plane white ones look beautiful.
But if minimalism is not your type, you like grand, and royal look , to your house and living room I wouldn’t suggest you to get blinds.
Even in roman blinds you can get a heavy curtain fabric stitched which are also used to stitch curtains but it might look flat when opened, in comparison if say you go for curtains & have two set of curtains one with a print and a plain curtain to balance it , both in closed and open conditions looks good, both in closed and open conditions looks good,
If you like motifs, patterns, prints your choice is not minimalist and you should go for curtains as even if you choose a fabric you liked, after incorporating in a roman blind , there is no guarantee you will like the end result but you can do the same in this case in a living room. Sometimes in a living room there are 2 windows one is French window and another is short.
Go for curtains in the French window one and go for roman blinds in the smaller one with the same fabric. As window height is small, half curtain looks bad. If your interior theme is white and wood, you can add wooden Venetian blinds. They are available in lot of colours and shades. light to dark as you can see. You can definitely try these. and sunlight filtering through these blinds looks magical.
You must have seen cane blinds, they look great too. We have used them in one interior where we wanted to create a vintage woody look, with a four-poster bed, wooden rafters in ceiling and cane blinds to compliment the thyme. they looked great!!!!
Now let’s talk about our privacy, Say you have a living room or any space looking into a building on one side and an open area and great view on other half. Say a beautiful mountain range. or there is no building close to your window In that case if you can go for curtains and if you are in this room and you want to look at the view, have light and ventilation at the same time have screening and privacy from this building, have light and ventilation at the same time
You can draw the curtain half and enjoy the view as you can see in the picture. But in blinds its just not possible. As blinds mostly are go up and down there is no scope of part screening in most of the blinds . In that case if you want privacy you will have to close the complete blinds.
If we talk about accessibility in French windows, with a balcony or a terrace say an accessible seating area outside in a veranda, I would suggest go for a curtain as we can easily slide it aside and move from one space to other. In blinds you can’t lift it and go; its inconvenient. One has to roll it up and only then move to the other space.
Let’s talk about cleaning and maintenance. Curtain fabrics are heavy at times and whenever I go for curtain selection, I ask the vendor how to wash them. Some sheer curtain with delicate work which can’t be machine washed or bucket washed dry clean only.
They have to be sent for dry cleaning. Generally, curtain is bucket washable, most of the times I select curtains which can be machine washed As nobody has time to wash heavy curtains in a bucket, It is convenient to machine wash curtains. Otherwise you may have selected and stitched a delicate sheer or a particular fabric curtain which needs dry cleaning,one is mentally prepared for the same.
Even our house helps know how to remove and fix a curtain. On the other hand, blinds are a bit tedious to maintain and clean. If in your house you have an area like office or a study room, where windows are hardly opened and AC is extensively used the presence of dust will be less you should go for blinds.
Now a day’s home office is a new normal, and every client would ask me to include a home office setup. So, one should go for a blind in such a space. Blinds need in place/ position cleaning by a sponge. It’s a bit tedious.
If you have kept the window open or the mosquito screen is open ,and the blinds are down, It keeps on ballooning and the bottom rod keeps on hitting the window frame An irritating sound as you can here in this video.
I don’t know if a buffer or something can be done to avoid this sound. curtains balloons but there is no sound If anyone of you have a solution please suggest the same in comments. I don’t know if a buffer or something can be done to avoid this sound.
If anyone of you have a solution please suggest the same in comments. I will also learn something new and our viewers will also benefit. As far as ease of selection goes, you can see mock up samples different types of blinds such as Roman, roller blinds, vertical, zebra blinds these mock up samples are for you to understand the mechanism and see the look.
But when you go for the fabric selection, the samples/ brochures are small as you can see and it is a bit difficult to visualise the final product, Comparatively, curtains are either displayed in full, or a complete roll of unstitched fabrics as you can see in the picture, or catalog size is bigger as you can see is comparatively easier to imagine compared to blinds.
Curtain fabrics & curtain accessories are available in a wide variety in a shop like Sheer fabrics with floral design, Motif, geometric pattern, or polka dots. You name it and it will be available. A lot of textured fabrics are available in Sheer as well as Opaque Opaque curtain fabrics with prints,
Self-work, if you want to get a good Fall/Form of these curtains then you can also go for Velvets, Suede or similar looking fabrics.
