All blinds are not created equal
Spring is a great time for new beginnings, like giving one’s home a fresh, new look. Window coverings can be the focal point of a home’s décor, and replacing them can be one of the best ways to rejuvenate any room. Sometimes, however, the overwhelming selection of window coverings can make it difficult to know where to start.
“The way that we help our clients select is to ask lots of questions to try and help narrow it down,” says Sharon Dean, manager of Regina’s Budget Blinds. “The most important things are that the window coverings are aesthetically pleasing in your home, functional for your family’s needs and, of course, fit within the right budget.”
The function of window coverings could be to provide insulation, to reduce glare or to darken the room. For insulation, Dean recommends cellular blinds, also called honeycombs, which trap air in horizontal channels, thus significantly increasing the R-value of the window. “There are a lot of window coverings that can help with energy efficiency and making sure furnaces and air conditioners aren’t working overtime, but the cellulars are the main ones,” she says.
The next consideration is appearance. You want something that looks nice, so we want to match the home’s décor, whether it’s more traditional, or a rustic or a modern home,” says Dean. “Shutters, for example, can go in traditional heritage homes and really pop in that sort of space, but they can also be made with a wider louvre and we can put them in a really modern space as well.”
When window coverings are purchased from a business such as Budget Blinds, a professional designer provides an in-home consultation, helping to ensure that the best choices for style, materials and colour are made.
Another advantage of dealing with a company that specializes in window coverings is that the products are made to fit the window height and width perfectly. Standard window coverings may be left with too much length and are often cut along one side to fit the window’s width, creating a rough edge.
An in-home consultant is also able to make recommendations on which safety features are best suited for the client’s unique circumstances, so that dangling cords don’t pose a strangulation risk for children and pets.
All blinds are made with built-in safety features such as break-away devices that come apart when pressure is applied and can easily be popped back together, and a tension device can be used to secure the cord out of children’s reach. “The entire window covering industry is governed by Health Canada,” says Dean. “They are all considered to be 100 per cent pet- and child-safe.” Home owners may also choose to upgrade to cordless window coverings, which is the recommendation of Health Canada.
With today’s home automation advancements, no one ever needs to touch a window-covering cord. All types can be controlled by a switch on the wall (similar to a light switch) or by a phone app, or they can be integrated into any home automation system. “If clients already have a speaker system or a lighting system, then we can integrate with that so people are just using one app on their phone to control their heat, their lights, their security system and their window coverings,” says Dean.
Another advancement in window coverings relates to their maintenance. While window coverings were once difficult to clean, it’s now a much simpler process. “There was a time when people thought they had to take them down and or a company had to come in and take them down and take them away to clean them. People used to put blinds in their tub and give them a bath,” says Dean, “but all window coverings are made much easier to clean. Most of the time, we recommend just the soft attachment on a vacuum cleaner and do a light vacuuming or even spot cleaning with a damp cloth.”
Dean says that, regardless of the type of window covering chosen, all are composed of material that is chosen for its durability and are made to last for the duration of their manufacturer’s limited 25-year warranty.
Budget Blinds also carries its own five-year, no-questions-asked warranty, whereby any window coverings will be replaced with an identical product, even if the damage was caused by the actions of children or pets. “Most people forget that it is guaranteed, and they are happily surprised when we say, ‘No problem, you have this guarantee and we can ship you a new one.’”