Custom Made Blinds

Roller blinds are often thought as as boring plain light blocking items. In many cases this can of course be very true (black out blinds in kids bedrooms) but one way to make a roller into something more notable is to add a shape.

Obviously don’t expect a blind that will block all the light out if it is shaped, but if you have a roller more as window ‘dressing’ shapes are great! See there are a lot of blinds that are never touched or drawn but are there just to make the window look nice and to stop the room from echoing.

Shapes are available in many forms and can often be supplied with poles through them, fake pulls (pretensioned blinds are a thing of the past) and fancy braided surrounds. The thing is that a lot of people looking for a shape to be added do not appreciate the work going into making the blind that way. All of a sudden the blind is made in 2 pieces (one shaped, one plain) and then joined together. This entails a lot of work, stitching and patience and is usually done by hand.

Where the weight bar on a normal roller blind used to be at the bottom now it is above the shape where the two parts join. So if you have a metal pole also the blind can be quite heavy also. To cover the join there are copious amounts of braid and also around the edge of the shape itself, again stitched by hand.

So in the end we have a roller blind, which looks great but costs probably 30 – 40% more! Besides this shapes are not advised in all applications for example I recommend not using them in bathrooms or kitchens if they are likely to get splashed as the braid can be hard to clean. The exception is if the blind is purely for decoration and usually just left half way up to cover the window recess. Do also bear in mind if you do intend to disguise the window the blind is on the wall and not in the recess, this in itself making it more vulnerable to damage. In the recess is always safer and usually the preference.

In summary when ordering your blind though do ask to have a look at what is available – it may ‘fire up’ a few ideas!

Here’s another article you may enjoy

• Custom Made Blinds – Roller blinds are very commonly used in children’s bedrooms to help them get to sleep; the ‘black out’ variant is by far the best option in bedrooms.