2 Factors to Consider When Choosing Roller Blinds for Your Home

Roller blinds are excellent for allowing you to maintain some privacy while letting in the amount of light you want in a room at any time. They are very stylish and come in a variety of shapes, styles, colour, and materials. There are many factors to think about depending on your end goal when getting your blinds, such as how much light you need, your budget, style, and safety considerations. However, apart from these, the kind of tilt and mounting of your blind are details you should also settle before you go shopping. Read on to learn more.

1. Inside versus outside mounting

The inside or outside mounting refers to the position of the blind edges – either within or outside the window frame. Inside mounting gives the cleanest look because the blinds fit exactly within the window frame. In the frame, they can be mounted deep (close to the glass) or shallow. For outside mounting, the depth isn't an issue, because the brackets are mounted outside the window frame, and the blinds are installed to extend past the window frame.

In some circumstances, you are limited to outside-mounted blinds, such as with doors and windows that have a shallow window frame, like French doors. In this case, brackets are mounted on the wall outside the frame or on the ceiling. Also, it is better to select thinner window blinds, which would look neater with this mounting option.

Inside-mounted blind brackets should fit within the frame and are usually placed in the top corners of the window. For this, it is vital to have the correct window measurement; too big and you won't fit them in the frame, too small, and you leave peeping room with your windows. An idea may be to have your supplier's technician do it to ensure measurements are accurate.

2. Cord tilt vs. wand tilt control

The 'default' with roller blinds is to have the wand to control the tilt functionality and the cord to close or open the blinds. When facing the blinds, the wand is usually on the left while the cord is on the right. Many customers prefer this because then all you need to remember is it tilts on the left and lifts on the right.

A point to note is that cord function for tilting works slightly better than the wand option, and you can get it as a free upgrade when ordering certain blinds. In addition, having cords on either side makes the window look more symmetrical. If, however, you want to have tilt and lift controls on the same side, wand-tilt and cord-lift are better because you won't get confused as to which is which every time you're operating the blind.

Blind function placement becomes more important if you have a large opening that demands installation of two blinds. In this case, it's advisable to keep the controls together on the outside, so that you don't obstruct your view with cords in the middle when your windows are opened.