Pros/cons of Blinds: Silhoutte or Fabric Cellular or Wood Blinds

[niccig]

I need some advice. We're looking at blinds for our front living room . All the windows open from the bottom and the top, and are wooden frame and trim. They're all 71" high, Two are 24" wide, 3 are 45" wide and 1 is 71" wide. Mostly open the windows from the top as DS can climb out the bottom part of the window! They overlook the garden so we don't want to obscure the view when they're up.

We looked at:
Hunter Douglas Silhoutte blinds - we like the look, but I worry about cleaning and tears to the sheer fabric with 2 yo DS. The windows go to a foot above the floor.

Cellular Blinds - only looking at those that are more like fabric. Like that they disappear into a small headrail as I don't want to lose too much of the top of the window.

Wood or Faux Wood - Like the look. Could look quite nice against the white trim in the rooms.

Anyone have any advice. It's difficult to make a decision from just a sample.

Thanks, Nicci

[etaylor75]

We have a 2 yo DS and have all three types of blinds you're looking at in our house.

If you go with cellular, I would definitely get the cordless. They're not that much more expensive and DS is less interested in blinds without cords. The only drawback to cellular is that when they're closed, you can't see out. They are great for keeping hot/cold air out.

We have Hunter Douglas Chalet Woods in the rooms on the front of the house - I love the 2 1/2 inch vanes because they have a little more openess when looking out. These are in rooms that we never pull the blinds up, only tilt the vanes open and closed. I think they look bad when pulled up - the stack is huge! Plus the cords get really long when you pull them up.

We have Hunter Douglas Nantuckets (cheaper version of Silhouettes - the only difference is that they have less color options) in our living room and I'm really happy with them - I love that they completely roll into the headrail and they have such a soft look. Our neighborhood is still under construction - so DS is always running to the windows yelling "digger" so during the day, I keep them pulled up. My Mom had Silhouettes in her house - even one above the kitchen sink and she swears that they are really easy to spot clean.

What are you trying to achieve in your living room? Privacy, light control, heat control...can you tell I run a window covering business? :)

Good Luck!
Erin

[C99]

We have top-down/bottom-up cellular shades (not available in cordless, which we have in all of the bedrooms) on all of our living room and dining room windows. They give us lots of privacy and we can still open the windows at the top and get some air. We have cord wraps next to each window on each side since there are two cords w/ this style of window covering to keep the cords up and away from little fingers (and little necks).

Faux wood will warp over time, so that is something to keep in mind even if they are quite a bit cheaper than real wood blinds.

[miki]

We have the Silhouettes pretty much all throughout the first floor of the house. The previous owners had them installed. I'd never seen blinds like them before and now I think they are great. They roll up very easily. If you shut them, they still let in plenty of light but become opaque for privacy. We have a pretty view out back so it's great to be able to still see out even if they are down but have the sheer fabric cut down the glare and keep out some of the heat from the summer sun.

I've never had a problem with DD pulling at the blinds. The cords are the kind that are fixed in position and screwed into the window frame on the side with some sort of doo-dad. They've never been hanging free to tempt her. The only thing that is kind of a pain is that if you have little bugs that somehow find their way into the cell of the shade and die there, it's not the most convenient to get them out (I need to haul out the vacuum and use an attachment to reach in) but if you don't clean them out of there, you can totally see the critters through the fabric.

[DebbieJ]

Given those measurements, wood blinds will be VERY HEAVY and, on the widest window, will likely have to be split into two headrails.

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg

[bostonsmama]

We have double honeycomb (diamond) cellular blinds from Bali and love them. Our fabric option is from the Northern Lights collection in "Storm." Some of the other fabrics look like the dotted paper gown you put on for an annual exam! We, too, have beautiful wood windows that we wanted a full view out of when they were open, but with perfect privacy at night. You can get the blackout or light filtering version (we have the latter). Our windows are ~42" wide as well, and they raise easily. We have horizontal faux wood blinds downstairs, and in any size they're difficult to raise. The only reason we went w/ wood blinds downstairs is b/c our kitchen/living room is an open floorplan, so for cleanability of grease/dust/foodstuffs, we went w/ the faux wood. If I were you, I'd get the ones that open from both the top and bottom. My cousin has them in her house; they're so easy to use! I should have gotten them, but the cost was more and I didn't know how much I'd like them. Especially in a bedroom where privacy is accomplished mostly by covering the bottom half of the window, you can still "see" out and let light in the top half.

That's my rec.

[niccig]

Thanks everyone. We use this front room as a guest room when people stay, as we don't have an extra room. We want the blinds to give privacy for the guests, but the majority of the time it is a sitting room and my office. The room is also colder than the rest of the house - original part of the 1940 house and probably not much insulation.

Currently there is nothing on these windows. It's south facing and we do get some sun that I don't want to fade 2 persian carpets on the floor, but it's been like that for 2 years and no damage yet. DH thinks we'll have the blinds raised most of the time, but a friend said she lowers her much more than she thought she would - one reason I'm attracted to the silhouttes. For the smaller windows there's not much price difference between the honeycomb and silhoutte as I liked an expensive fabric for the honeycomb. It's the wide window were most of the cost difference is. The wide windo (72") and the 2 24" windows form a bay window, which is the feature of the room, so we want something that looks good.

I think we'll scratch wood - the large stackback and heavyness won't work for us. So between silhoutte and honeycomb. I already know we getting honeycomb in our bedroom. It's just the front room that's difficult to decide on.

ETA difference in headrail widths between honeycomb and silhoutte? Just seeing how much of the top of the window will be taken up. We do open the top part of the window.

Nicci

[MamaMolly]

The cellular blinds in the kitchen we are renting are nice in theory, but are kind of gross in reality. They are just grimy and you can't clean them. Yuck!