BLINDS, CURTAINS, SHUTTERS OR SHEERS? BLINDS SHUTTERS

Get the lowdown with tips and ideas for every room

ROLLER

Budget-friendly and available in a variety of colours, textures and patterns, roller blinds are a great choice for smaller single windows. Choose splashproof material for bathrooms and blackout fabric for bedrooms – electric designs mean you can even roll them up from your bed. You can often install roller blinds yourself to keep costs down.

VENETIAN

Available in metal, plastic, wood and wood-effect, these work well in kitchens and bathrooms. There is a variety of slat widths to suit the size of your window. You can use a cord to alter the direction of the slats to adjust the light.

ROMAN

Perfect for creating a cosy yet contemporary feel, they’re made from a single piece of flat fabric that folds up and down when the strings are pulled. Well suited to bedrooms, living rooms or hallways, especially if you like a sleek, minimalist look.

DAY & NIGHT

A fairly new style, these are roller blinds made up of opaque and transparent fabric stripes, so you can choose between a block of opaque to shut out the light completely or a stripe effect to provide natural light and privacy.

ALSO LOOK OUT FOR...

Blinds that offer flexibility such as Trilight and ‘top down, bottom up’ options, which allow you to choose how much of the window you want to cover, depending on the amount of light and privacy you want.

CAFE STYLE

Inspired by cafe shutters that provide diners with privacy, this design covers the lower half of the window while letting in natural light above. Less expensive than full-height shutters, this style is ideal for windows that aren’t overlooked from above.

FULL HEIGHT

The most popular style, especially for bay windows, it covers the entire window and you can open them, a bit like curtains (see above, shutters in Element Grey, from £595 including measuring and fitting, House Beautiful Collection at Hillarys).

TIER-ON-TIER

Similar to full-height shutters, but the top and bottom halves are separate, so you can open the top section while keeping the bottom half closed and vice versa. This flexible design allows you to open, close and adjust the shutters as the sun moves around.

SOLID

Reminiscent of traditional European architecture, solid shutters are a great choice if you need to block out the light completely. With no slats, they’re either fully open or closed.