Most people start with the look. The better question is what you want the window to do for you, and the answer is rarely the same in two rooms.
To choose blinds, decide first what the window needs to do in that room: block light, keep heat in, give privacy without losing daylight, stand up to steam, or simply look beautiful. Then match the type. Honeycomb blinds such as Duette insulate best, Pirouette and Silhouette give the softest light, roller and duo roller blinds are the simplest, venetians and shutters bring character, and a face fitted room darkening blind is the closest you will get to true blackout. Add motorisation at the planning stage if you can, because wiring is easier before the decorators arrive.
I will admit something. For a long time I thought of blinds as a bit office. Beige, functional, the thing you put up because you had to put something up. My parents have had the same vertical blinds since we first moved into the house, and I grew up thinking that was what blinds were.
My grandmother knew better. She has only ever had Luxaflex, in every house she has lived in, and now that we carry the whole range in our showroom I understand why. There are fabrics that look like curtains, blinds in colours I would happily wear, and a system that opens and closes itself at sunset. It is a far bigger world than most people realise, and that is exactly why choosing can feel overwhelming.
So this is the way I walk clients through it. It works whether you end up buying from us or not.
Start with what the window needs to do
Most people who come to see me have already done some research, which I love, because it means they arrive with a shortlist. But the first question I ask is always the same: what do you want to get out of the blind? Once that is answered, the choice narrows very quickly, and quite often it points to something they had not considered.
There are really only five jobs a window treatment does:
- Light. Do you want to soften it, filter it, or shut it out completely?
- Privacy. Do you need it all day, or only at night? Only at the bottom of the window, or all of it?
- Heat. Is the room cold in winter, or does it cook in the afternoon sun?
- Practicality. Is it a kitchen or a bathroom, where the blind needs to be wiped down and cope with steam?
- Character. What period is the house, and what should the window say about the room?
Rank those for each room, not for the house as a whole. A bedroom that faces east has a completely different brief to a north facing study, even if they sit side by side.
The main types of blind, and who each one is for
The range runs from simple and plain to seriously clever, with price points at every stage. These are the ones I show most often.
Roller and duo roller blinds
The roller blind is the entry point to the range and there is nothing wrong with that. Clean, simple, and available in a huge choice of fabrics, including wipeable ones for kitchens and bathrooms. The duo roller layers alternating sheer and solid bands, so you slide between daylight and privacy without raising the blind at all.
Duette honeycomb blinds
If a room is cold, this is where I start. Duette is a honeycomb blind: the cells trap a layer of air against the glass, which helps keep heat in during winter and out in summer. Luxaflex rate their Duette fabrics for insulation from A up to AA++, so you can choose how hard you want it to work. It is the one that can bring your bills down, and it is also one of the most flexible, because it comes top down, bottom up.
That top down, bottom up option is worth knowing about for any room. The blind can drop from the top, so light pours in over the top while the lower half of the window stays private. For a bathroom, a ground floor bedroom or a street facing living room, it solves the problem neatly.
Silhouette and Pirouette shades
These are the ones people stop in front of in the showroom. Silhouette suspends soft fabric vanes between two sheer layers, so the light comes through diffused and glowing rather than in stripes. Pirouette sits at the top of the range: fabric vanes floating on a single sheer backing. You can have it fully closed, or open so that alternating vanes let you see straight out through the sheer. It is the most beautiful thing Luxaflex make, in my opinion, and it is the one I would choose for my own living room.
Pleated blinds
Pleated blinds fold up very neatly, which makes them ideal for awkward windows, skylights and conservatories where there is not much room for a headrail. They also come in wipeable and stain resistant fabrics.
Wooden and metal venetians
Wooden venetians are warm and classic and suit almost any period of house. The metal ones are the ones I did not expect to love. The metal venetian range comes in colours from pastels to metallics, gold, black and white, and some of them are properly funky. If I were doing a child’s bedroom, I would put in metal venetians in a bright red and not think twice.
Vertical blinds and shutters
Vertical blinds are the practical answer for wide windows and sliding doors, and my parents are proof of how long they last. Shutters are a category of their own, and very much in fashion at the moment, so they get their own section below.
Blackout or room darkening: the honest answer
Luxaflex do not call their darkest fabrics blackout. They call them room darkening, and I respect them for it, because there will always be a small amount of light at the edges of any blind. Fabrics are graded from sheer to fully opaque, so you can pick anything from a light filter that is mostly about the look to something that makes a bedroom properly dark.
Where the light gets in depends on how the blind is fitted. If it sits inside the window recess, it has to clear the window handles and the cassette at the top, so there is a tiny gap. That gap is small, but for a light sleeper or a nursery it matters. The answer is to face fix the blind, which means mounting it on the wall over the recess so it overlaps the frame on every side. It is a simple, clever fix, and it is what I would do in any bedroom where darkness is the priority. It is also why these make a very good blackout blind for a cinema room.
Shutters or blinds?
This comes down to the look you want and the house you have. Shutters carry more character. They have a heritage, traditional feel, and in a period house they tend to look as if they have always been there. I live in a Victorian house from the 1800s and I have wooden shutters, because nothing else would suit it as well.
But you are seeing shutters on modern houses more and more, where they give a lovely Mediterranean feel, especially in some of the colours now available. There are full height shutters, café style shutters that cover only the lower half, and tier on tier where the top and bottom open separately. Some clients fit blinds directly onto the glass and shutters in front of them, which gives you the best of both. If you want clean, modern and minimal, go for a blind. If you want the character of a shutter, nothing else quite does it.
Blinds or curtains?
Curtains are having a real moment again, and I understand the appeal. But the old argument that blinds are the boring option does not hold any more. Some of these fabrics look like curtains, with proper texture, sheen and colour, and some have a bit of glamour to them. Blinds are the more modern choice, they take up no floor space, and they do not collect dust in folds.
There is also the button. I would rather press it than get up every time, and I do not think I am alone. For anyone who loves the softness of a curtain, a Pirouette or Silhouette gives you much of that feeling with far more control over the light. And if you want both, a sheer blind under a curtain is a perfectly good answer.
Motorised blinds and PowerView
Nearly everyone who comes in ends up wanting PowerView, which is the Luxaflex motorisation system, and we have a working demonstration in the showroom so you can see exactly how it behaves. Every Luxaflex blind can be made electric and connected to it.
There are two ways to power it. If you are building from scratch or renovating, you would normally have power points put in at the window during the electrical work, so the blinds are hardwired. If the house is already finished, you go battery powered instead. The battery life is impressive: in my experience you are recharging roughly every eighteen months, not every few weeks.
Then you can set scenes. One for the morning, one for sunset, one for when you are away. It connects to Alexa and Google, and you can control it from your phone. The practical tip: if you are renovating, decide about motorisation before the electrician is finished. Blinds already take around five weeks to arrive, and if you need power points put in first, that has to happen before the fitter comes. I cover how that fits around everything else in my guide to lead times.
Don’t forget the outside
The part of the range I am most excited about right now is outdoors. More people want to entertain at home rather than go out all the time, and a good awning changes what a garden or terrace is for. Luxaflex awnings can have LED lighting in the arms, and there are heater options, so a summer evening lasts a good deal longer. The awning range also includes wind and sun sensors, so the awning retracts itself when the weather turns.
How it works with us, from first visit to fitting
Choosing from hundreds of fabrics online is overwhelming. In person it is much easier, because once people start flicking through the books they usually know what they want surprisingly quickly. Here is what happens:
- Come in or book a visit. Our showroom in High Barnet has every range, every fabric book and working demonstrations, PowerView included. Or I come to you.
- I measure and quote. I visit, look at each window and how the room is used, measure up and give you a quote.
- We measure again. If you are happy to go ahead, I come back with the fitter, who measures everything again. Made to measure means exactly that, so we check twice.
- I place the order. Blinds usually take around five weeks.
- We install. We come back with the fitter and put everything up.
We work with fitters we trust, across North London and Hertfordshire. A lot of companies would sell you the blind and leave the measuring and fitting to you, which is harder than it sounds and the easiest way to end up with a gap you did not want. Designers can arrange all of this through our trade service.
Why Luxaflex costs more, and why it lasts
Luxaflex is the brand of Hunter Douglas, and there is real history behind it. By 1951 they had created the world’s first metal venetian blind, launched with the Luxaflex name in the UK, the Netherlands and France. A lot of what other companies now sell started as their idea, and some of it, Pirouette in particular, you will only find from them. That is part of why the price tag is sometimes a little higher.
The other part is how long it lasts. Luxaflex once went looking for some of the oldest blinds still in use and found people who had had theirs for over twenty years, still looking close to new. My grandmother would not be surprised. You are not buying something you will replace in a few years. You are buying it once, with the measuring, fitting and aftercare included, and that is where the value is. If you want to understand how the rest of a luxury price breaks down, I have written about where the money actually goes.
What I would put in my own house
People ask me this all the time, so here it is. Pirouette in the living room, because nothing else handles light so beautifully. A face fixed Duette in the bedroom for warmth and darkness. Wooden shutters at the front, because the house is Victorian and it deserves some character. Metal venetians in bright red in a child’s room. And an awning over the garden, because I would be out there every evening from May to September.
If you would like to see any of them working, book an appointment and come and press the buttons yourself. The whole range is on our window coverings pages too, if you want to browse first.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose the right blinds for a room?
Decide what the window needs to do before you think about looks: block light, keep heat in, give privacy, cope with steam, or add character. Rank those for that room, then choose the type that does the top job best. Honeycomb blinds insulate, sheer shades soften light, roller blinds are simplest, and shutters and venetians add character.
Which blinds are best for keeping a room warm?
Honeycomb blinds such as Luxaflex Duette. The cells trap a layer of air against the glass, which helps reduce heat loss in winter and keeps rooms cooler in summer. Duette fabrics are rated for insulation from A to AA++, and the higher the rating, the better they hold the heat in.
Do blackout blinds block all the light?
Not completely. Even the darkest fabric lets a little light in at the edges, which is why Luxaflex call it room darkening rather than blackout. Face fixing the blind over the window recess, so it overlaps the frame, reduces that light bleed to almost nothing.
Are shutters better than blinds?
Neither is better, they suit different houses. Shutters have a traditional, characterful look that suits period properties and gives modern houses a Mediterranean feel. Blinds are cleaner and more minimal. You can also fit blinds on the glass with shutters in front for both.
Do motorised blinds need wiring?
Not necessarily. In a new build or renovation, power points are usually added at the window so the blinds are hardwired. In a finished house, battery powered motors avoid any building work, and the battery typically needs recharging only about every eighteen months.
How long do Luxaflex blinds take?
Around five weeks from order, after a home visit to measure and quote and a second measure with the fitter. If you want motorised blinds hardwired, any electrical work needs to happen before the fitter arrives.