05 Apr 10 Venetian Blinds – Buying Considerations
Venetian blinds have some functional advantages, which not only make them desirable most of the times but also necessarily required at times, depending on the situation or circumstances.
The two materials used for making them are aluminum and wood, but irrespective of the material used, their operation remains the same. Basically they are slats that may be operated by a rod or cord that tilts them to nearly 180 degrees.
Of late it has become trendy to be using wooden Venetian blind for living rooms to go along the wooden flooring or as a window feature against the backdrop of bare walls as a part of the interior design. Wood obviously can’t be used in bathrooms and conservatories, as it is prone to getting warped under humid and hot atmosphere. Well, you are free to use them wherever you like, but don’t expect the manufacturer to offer guarantee against warping when used in the non-recommended places.
Aluminum Venetian blinds while continuing to remain popular are now a favorite choice of most householders for being used in the bathrooms, home offices, kitchen and bedrooms too. You get them in very many finishes encouraging their use at many places. The traditional white and cream colors seem to be losing their popularity compared to the newer shades and finishes like wood effect, stardust and scratched finish.
Cleaning of Venetian blinds continues to be as problematic as ever. That’s because the very nature of design of horizontal binds is conducive to collecting dust. But, it’s not such that can’t be helped out. If the blinds are rotated on a regular basis the accumulation of dust is certainly reduced. Further, cleaning them with readily available ostrich feather dusters keeps them free of dust. And, let’s accept the fact that any surface left unclean is sure to get dusty.
Let’s now consider the amount of light that enters your room while you have Venetian blinds therein. Both the kinds of Venetian blinds are available in three or four slat sizes that vary from 16mm in aluminum and 25mm in wood and go up to 50mm in both. It’s not difficult to understand that the amount of light that enters the room depends to a large extent on the size of the slat. The smallest size of 16mm lets in about 25% of the light that a 50mm size would allow to enter. As more slating is used to cover the window, the gaps between each get narrower, thus encouraging their use in offices to fairly restrict the view of the outsiders but at the same time allowing some light to enter. The more often used size for wooden Venetian blinds is 50mm, whereas 25mm is the most common size for aluminum blinds.
Tags: venetian shutters
16 Mar 10 Remote Control Blinds
Developments in the field of electronics have continued to remove small petty irritants from our daily life. One such development that has made life comfortable is the introduction of remotes that enable the user to control so many common devices like music system, TV, air conditioner and many more. Almost any electrical device can be operated thru a remote control. Now, they have developed remote control for working of blinds too. Such remotes allow you to control blinds in your room without having to leave your seat. You would have experienced that ordinarily blinds would get jammed after they have been used for sometime. It is experienced that such traditional blinds should not be handled too frequently for fear of losing their open-close feature. While facilitating the operation of blinds, remote control also prolongs the life of blinds.
Remote control blinds are helpful at home and office too. While you may be working on your table, you suddenly find sunrays penetrating through the room staring to your face. It’s really very discouraging if you have to leave your work midway and go to adjust the blinds suitably. Once you lose concentration of mind or body rhythm, it takes time to get back to the same mode and mood. With a remote control you don’t have to leave your job in between for adjusting the blinds, just keep the remote on your desk and operate the blinds without any disturbance of any kind.
Imagine yourself trying to snatch a few winks on the sofa of your living room in a half-asleep mode and wishing someone to come and close the blinds! That’s when you wish to had remote control. Now, you can have rest anytime you feel like as long as the remote is within your easy reach. It will be very irritating and disturbing if you are unable to locate remote when you begin to feel drowsy.
This is a perfect device for people who are unable to get up in the mornings till someone opens the curtains to let in sunlight. As soon as your morning alarm sounds, you can withdraw the blinds; just remember to keep the remote at your night table before retiring for the night. It is really difficult for most of people to get up in the morning if the rooms are totally dark. As sunlight enters your room, you body responds to it and gives you the signal that it’s time to leave your bed.
Remote control of blinds is a great development in the field of blinds. They can be used in offices and homes alike. They tend to last longer than traditional manual blinds and even if you happen to lose the remote, these blinds can be moved manually.
Tags: motorized blinds
04 Mar 10 Vertical Blinds – When You Want Diversity In Your Home
As far as window coverings go, there are too many options to choose from. Every time you go shopping for these you will certainly find new styles and designs in the market. Nevertheless, vertical blinds constitute a very adaptable option.
Windows may be covered with vertical slats and such an arrangement is called vertical blinds. In their case, the cords connect them. The cords are operated to open or close them, thus enabling you control the incoming light. There is also the option of pulling all the slats all the way over to one side. Their design doesn’t permit them to add warmth to the room like drapes and curtains do, but they primarily are meant for controlling the light that enters the room.
When they were introduced in the market, vertical blinds did not offer many options. People found them unattractive, though they were functional. Perhaps they were a favorite of students because of their price and utilitarian style.
Over the years they have acquired many new styles. Long ago, you could get them in wood and metal only, but these days you get them in materials that include paper, fabric, cane and vinyl.
In case you are looking for comparatively inexpensive and easy to clean blinds, you will find paper blinds to fulfill your requirements. However, you may not find a large variety in terms of colors and styles. It will be a nice idea to use them in conjunction with drapes and curtains and include them for their decorative value.
To get a tropical look for your room you may consider having cane or bamboo blinds that may be rolled or pleated. But, such blinds do facilitate some incoming light and are easy to see thru. Except for the bedroom or bathrooms they should be found useful in any other room.
What makes Venetian blinds especially pleasant is the variety of their styles. They can conveniently be adjusted to get the required amount of light. The price varies on the kind of material used and you do get affordable variety also.
Vertical blinds offer a rather inexpensive way of bringing in style to your room. It is very common to see them paired with curtains and drapes to create unusual styles as also to get more options of how to use them stylishly. They offer you the freedom of keeping the drapes or curtains open most of the time and to adjust the blinds to have more or reduced privacy and light as per your requirements and mood.
Once you have made up your mind of the style and material you would like to have, it’s time to go shopping. The sheer variety, designs and quality will surely amaze you. You don’t have to worry even if the window of your room is not of standard size as there are many manufacturers who would willingly custom make vertical blinds to fit your requirements in materials and colors of your choice.
The available variety makes it very easy to select vertical blinds of your choice, whatever be your style, budget or material, to add to the décor of your room. These have indeed come a long way since you first used them while at college.
Tags: cheap vertical blinds, vertical shutters
20 Feb 10 Enclosed Blinds – Elegant Solution
Mini blinds are notoriously known for their tangled strings, poor quality and clutter they create at windows. But, you really don’t have to bear all that because enclosed blinds are there. This design of blinds is built into a frame and a lever operates to open and close them.
Installation of enclosed blinds calls for an accurate measurement of your window. As it is designed like a frame you don’t need little brackets on top of the window. You may compare an enclosed blind to a storm window. It has a frame that rests in the window. The provision of a lever on the frame facilitates opening or closing of blinds. It certainly works on a string mechanism but the difference here is that the strings are inside the frame and can’t get entangled. The basic system is the same as in mini blinds with strings entwined between slats. The slats of enclosed blinds can be adjusted to get the desired amount of light.
The frame of enclosed blinds makes their installation easier than typical mini blinds. As it comes as one piece, it can conveniently be secured to the window without any fuss. The brackets easily clasp into window frame. AS there is no drilling involved, the process is very neat.
In case you like the room to be still darker, you may have two separate enclosed blinds on the same window, meaning you get the enclosed blinds on the upper and lower sashes on the window. This is the safest design if you have children at home as they are unable to fiddle with the strings.
Enclosed blinds are available in many colors. There is one more advantage of enclosed blinds. Since they are tailored to the size of the window, they are sure to fit there. This feature especially helps if you have odd or non-standard sized windows. Further, they offer better protection from heat and sun, thus adding to your comfort level and help to save electricity.
Enclosed window blinds are costlier than normal mini blinds but they beat the mini blinds as far as style and durability is concerned. Generally, you get these blinds from a specialty blind store in your neighborhood.
Tags: enclosed shutters, enclosed window blinds
02 Feb 10 Blackout Blinds Or Blackout Curtains?
A lot many people are left wondering if they should go for blackout window blinds or curtains for their window treatments and coverings. The main cause of confusion is the large available variety. If you check online, you will find an amazing variety of colors, styles and types making it difficult to make the right choice. The only way to get out of such a situation is to be better prepared.
Getting prepared means you should know what to buy for your window treatments. Will it be curtains or blinds? Do not get overwhelmed by all that you see on online sites. First of all you have to decide the style and color that would best suit your room and the overall style of your home. You have to keep in mind the present scheme of things and color and your new selection should convey a sense of continuity rather than looking out of place. Such a choice would enhance the looks of your room.
Again, back to the question, blinds or curtains? Blackout window blinds are needed when you want to have total darkness and sunlight is totally blocked out. That level of darkness is desired by people who like to have a healthy nap during the day or are working in night shifts and necessarily need to catch up with their sleep during the day. Or, if you have a baby at home, you’ll find such blinds helpful. A dark room makes you feel it is still nighttime and that induces sleep.
On the other hand if you like to see thru the windows and have a look at the world outside, you should go for curtains. Very dark curtains are also capable of delivering high level of darkness. But, then most of curtains give too scanty a look to enhance the décor and looks of your home. It’s a great feeling to have a refreshingly elegant looking room and house. Such window treatments and coverings are most suited as a part of some detailed decoration of the house or rooms. Yet, the importance of its going along the present theme of your house can’t be overemphasized.
Once you understand the basics of what you are looking for, rest of the things soon start falling into place. Irrespective of your decision of buying blackout window blinds or curtains for your window coverings and treatments, you need to take with you accurate measurements of your windows when you go out shopping. Online shopping of these items is very convenient, compared to shopping in stores.
Tags: blackout drapes, blackout shutters, sun blocking blinds
21 Jan 10 French Door Window Blinds
It’s nice to have blinds on your French door, but you have to carefully select the right style and material of your blinds. You get them in different materials and each has its place in the house. Probably, you can’t have blinds from the same material all over the house. Blinds are made from sheets of different materials that are suitably strung together by a thread or string. Some of the materials constituting blinds make a lot of noise when they get beaten against each other. Generally the noise is caused when you have breeze coming thru the window. It is not a very pleasant noise caused by cluttering of sheets of blinds and spoils the peaceful ambience of the place.
You may take care of this problem by going in for horizontal blinds, which being tightly entangled can’t produce noise like the vertical designed blinds that are loosely strung. You should carefully choose the material of such blinds. It’s understandable that the incoming breeze wouldn’t move a heavier material so easily. Thus the heavier material will not be so noisy.
The temperature and quality of air in the room also matters. The temperature and humidity of room makes it difficult to maintain certain types of blinds. An example is of Matchstick blinds made from bamboo or other lighter wood like rattan. Such natural materials are susceptible to variation of temperature and moisture, and prone to molds, more so during rains. As such this variety of blinds is not desired for bathrooms and kitchens that are normally moisture ridden. Nevertheless, these materials may be treated with a solution of sodium bicarbonate and salt in water. This is an effective treatment for preventing molds from growing on such blinds.
Apart from these factors, you need to give due consideration to safety features of blinds. Generally blind are very safe to use, but freak accidents may happen, especially when you have children at home. Select blinds made from quality material. Sometimes the paint may chip off and fall on the floor below and with children around the house; one may swallow it and cause unnecessary complications. Make sure that children do not reach the chords of the blinds as quite a few accidents happen when child gets entangled with it. All this goes to provide added safety in the house.
An inappropriate selection of French door window blinds for you home could cause any of the above problems. Take care of these before hand and continue enjoying your selection of blinds that add to the décor of your home.
Tags: Door Blinds, french blinds
08 Jan 10 Conservatory Window Blinds – Abundance Of Choices
Window blinds serve both an aesthetic purpose as well as a critically functional one. It not only gives your space an entirely different and sophisticate look, it also helps to keep in the warmth in long winter days and keep out the sun’s glare in summer. This is especially true for Conservatory Window Blinds.
There are a good range of conservatory window blinds available to match the ambiance of your conservatory, be it a sophisticated or fun loving theme. You have to conservatory roof blinds, the pinoleum blinds, pleated conservatory blinds and Awning or Exterior Blinds. And you do have to some considerations to make before deciding on which to choose from.
Pleated Conservatory Blinds
Pleated conservatory blinds are not exactly the cheapest option and are probably the most common design nowadays. As the name says, it is made of pleated materials, with fabric folded permanently into a fan shape when closed and opens straight up like a fan. Pleated conservatory blinds are available in a wide range of color, fabrics which are pre treated for harsh weather fairing tasks.
Pleated conservatory blinds reduce the temperature of the conservatory in summer and keep it warmer in winter. They are held in place using wire guides to prevent from sagging. They are usually mounted on a frame and can be opened using a cord, wand, crank or remotely using a motor, granted, these being the more expensive types of conservatory blinds. They can be used either on the roof or the side windows of the conservatory.
Pinoleum Window Blinds
Pinoleum Blinds are essentially Roman blinds, but are made wood or bamboo strips. But if your objective is to keep cool, they might disappoint you as the gaps do let more sun into the space. Exactly the fact that the gaps lets in more sunlight, it gives the entire room textured lighting effects. This works best for those of you who do not need to have a complete sun block yet wish to keep away the harsh glare and some daylight out. Pinoleum blinds comes to you in two options, made to measure and ready made and with a little more money, you could easily customize by trimming them to suit the aesthetic and functions of your space. Being woven in nature, pinoleum blinds are made in a wide variety of colors, styles and designs to fit all ages, all purposes, and almost all decoration, from the rustic to the chic look and feel.
The roller blinds can become a popular component of your conservatory décor. Them being the simplest type of blind to install and to use, these blinds are most suitable for side windows, and can also double up as roof windows as well. For the roof roller blinds, most are treated on their sun facing side to help deal better with harsh heat and sunlight.
The most traditional type of blinds, the Roman blinds are often used not only in conservatories but almost in every home due to it being light weighted, easy to install, maintain and clean, as well as use. All you need are drawstrings and cords.
Awning / Exterior Blinds conversely are placed outside of your conservatory, covering the roof and hence help to better ventilate the entire conservatory. They keep it cooler than interior blinds, serving as a barrier from the sun’s heat. Obviously they are made of extra tough materials to weather the elements.
The latest option is to cover the interior of your windows with films of shades. Some come with reflective functions, and tend to bounce off a great amount of heat. But bear in mind these do not block outside view.
Tags: Conservatory Blinds, pinoleum blinds, pleated shutters
30 Dec 09 Real Wood Blinds – Style That Lasts
The perfect way to spice up your space is to add style and taste with wood window blinds, enhancing the ambience of your home. They are the classics in blinds, exuding beauty esthetically, durability for functionality, and versatility for almost all décor themes you can think of. Not to mention, they are long lasting over time.
Custom wood blinds are best if you have oddly shaped or located windows. These are some of the best wood window blinds that you can find, and they are be specially modified or made to measure for the each and every single window in your home should you require customization. Hilarys blinds is on of the key market player in this area and you can be assured of quality and stylishness as you would like them to be. And at Hilarys blinds, you would never have to choose from the mundane and common pre-made blinds, because you can get exactly what you want. That said, you can expect to pay a fair bit more for that desired, one and only design, which is definitely worth while.
Wood comes in different sizes, colors, texture appeals. The key to designing and customizing your home with wood is that blend well with the overall color theme, achieving the most comfortable look and feel you want for your space. The beauty of it is that regardless of the type of décor you currently have at home, it is always a most versatile and soothing that appeal to the senses. In fact, a dark wood look and feel can be achieved even with lighter colored ones simply with a coat of dark shellac. In essence, there is an infinite variety of choices available, so you can have the perfect look for your home.
If you have s slight budget constrain, you could adopt a semi customized approach with the home shades. With the wide variety available in the market, you simply need to go shopping at the right places for them like Hunter douglas wood blinds, levelor blinds, bali blinds and others, just to name a few. Hunter Douglas Wood Blinds and Levolor Blinds will cost you a premium for pre-made but special designs yet still are much lower than full custom wood blinds. In fact, pre-made specialty designs are easier to adjust, tweak and thereby fitting well into your overall theme as they are already available and helps much better with visualization.
Benefits of wood window blinds abound. They allow you complete privacy and you can also choose between an open and airy look, or close the blinds to completely close out the light and the outside noise. If your profession requires you to invert your working hours from the norm, this serves as the prefect solution to “days” of undisturbed sleep. You save on energy consumption too. You would be pleasantly surprised that they are best at maintaining the temperature within the room, as they are highly effective in keeping out the sun and insulating you for heat loss to the exterior.
So if you have deeper pockets and prefer uniquely designed wood window blinds, make a beeline to your Hilarys Blinds store. Should you believe more in functionality and practicality, simply forgo the custom wood blinds and choose pre-made ones instead.
And keep a look out for promotions on Wood window blinds at your local favorite drapery stores as you might just chance upon good quality yet affordable wood window blinds.
Tags: wood blinds, wood shutters
20 Dec 09 Bamboo Blinds – A Tasteful Option
Buying bamboo window shades can be confusing if you are expecting the standard stereotype of bamboo blinds. The term could mean a very different type of materials used as in light weight wood materials like rattan, reed, bamboo or even faux wood, essentially meaning false wood. These types of blinds allow a small amount of sunlight to into your room, due to the way the fabrics are woven and knitted together. Selected types also provide an option for insulating fabric liners to enhance light filtering.
If you are working with a tight budget, this is the best type of quality cheap window blinds which require the minimum amount of maintenance, yet giving you a potentially aesthetically ethnic and tropical look and feel. That said, it must of course, blend in with the overall ambience of your environment.
Bamboo Window Blinds
One of the most common and popular type of Bamboo window blinds is the roll up type which literally means that when you pull the cord, they roll up nicely. The alternative is the roman style which lifts up by pleats of folds when you pull the cord. The versatility of the bamboo window blinds abounds and you could use them indoors as well as outdoors. You can attach the frame to the roof latch and easily get good protection from the sun at your patio or deck. This would protect your deck furniture from harsh sunlight or rain. And the best part of it is that due to its light weight, there is no need to worry about the shades giving way.
You could also use bamboo window shades to decorate the interior of your home. There are many standing shades which come in two or three folds for partitioning purposes. You can cordon off a section of the room with a tall bamboo partition to distinctively separate the space into two areas, thereby giving you more leeway in designing each of the two spaces into different styles and ambience.
This is a great option especially when you need to section off the room for a quiet corner as a home office or part of your office as waiting area. These are Bamboo matchstick shades, and with these, your partitioning would look both stylishly ethnic, yet tasteful, when done correctly to blend with the overall theme of the space. Note though that you should ensure that there is standardized color theme with you are decorating an entire space with bamboo window blinds and matchstick shades as bamboo is a natural material which could vary in different shades of brown.
Bamboo Window Shades
Bamboo Window Shades or blinds gives quality yet are affordable. Contrary to common belief that they are made from fragile fabric, but if you look hard enough, there is value for money quality coverings available. As mentioned above, some are bamboo shares are made of rattan, which are one of the most hardy blinds materials in the market nowadays. Rattan furniture, blinds and shades could last a few generations if maintained well. Simply look to our Asian counterparts for rattan antiques and you will know what quality means.
Hence, you could indeed greatly enhance both the interior and the exterior of your home or office with bamboo window shades when used appropriately, allowing space to exude style and taste with quality window blinds too.
Tags: bamboo shades, bamboo shutters
01 Dec 09 Faux Wood Blinds – Affordable Solution
Wood window blinds and shutters are amongst the most expensive although they are also the most popular window the most popular window shades sold across America. Offering you an alternative to this is the quality yet cheap window blinds popularly known as Faux wood window blinds. They combine the versatility of the varied types of rich texture, highlighting nature’s array of subtle colors, and best of all, at a fraction of the cost of real wood blinds. This is most popular especially in hot and humid locations such as countries along the equator. In fact manufacturers have hailed this to become a quality alternative as quality yet cheap window blinds.
By Faux wood, it means false wood, which essentially means the materials include a combination of vinyl and wood compounds. This gives the look and texture of wood but as both vinyl and wood are mashed together, the end material becomes much stronger, more moisture resistant and cost less than their real wood blinds counterpart.
Did you know the main reason why interior designers prefer faux wood blinds? It is simply because of their ease of maintenance, easy to clean, not to mention, its great versatility. You can use it for your kitchen windows or likewise for the bathroom. Faux wood blinds are more heat resistant and hence do not warp or crack in high heat when used in the kitchen area. They are also a great help in the bathroom where high humidity is never a threat, unlike its real wood blinds counterparts.
Also Faux wood window blinds allow much better control over light and privacy, much more than wood window blinds, yet keeps in the warmth in Winter or keeps your place cool during hot summers.
However, the dilemma of weight seems to plaque faux wood blinds. As mentioned above, they are made of a mixture of vinyl and wood and tend to be rather heavy. This weighs greatly on the window frames and home owners are concerned with long term wear and tear issues. However, the very fact that it is heavy means that it is capable of insulating the temperature within the room.
It is a matter of choice, should you be pro-functionality, then you would surely consider faux wood window blinds, as it not only controls light and privacy as effectively as wood blinds, their combined polymer fibers make them robust, moisture resistant, easy to clean and which makes them sturdy, resistant to moisture and warping, easy to clean and energy efficient too.
