How To Choose Between Plantation Shutters, Window Blinds, And Window Shades In Houston

Shades, blinds, and shutters–oh my! All the distinct window treatments out there can become a bit mind-boggling if you are looking to select one for your Houston home. Knowing how to differentiate between each type will aid you in determining which products will be best on the windows you are covering. Let’s explore the pros, cons, and top locations for plantation shutters, window blinds, and window shades in Houston.

The Pros And Cons Of Plantation Shutters

Louvered shutters are built from hardwood or a wood synthetic and go into your property where they secure permanently to your window with the shutter’s frame attached to the window’s frame. Easy-to-move panels inside the frame smoothly glide open for complete sunshine and an unobstructed view or close again to blanket your window for privacy and darkness. If the panels are shut, you can also turn the louvers for some light and adjust them to redirect light where it needs to go.

The Pros

Louvered shutters stand out from other window treatments due to their specialized design. Along with their unmistakable look, they also supply many remarkable benefits for Houston properties:

• Elevate your home with alluring architectural style

• Available in neutral colors to blend with your design in the present and later if you redesign

• Give You total privacy and near-total darkness when secured

• Open effortlessly for sunshine and views to your property

• Work with any uniquely shaped window like circles and sunbursts

• Redirect sun glare with the louvers

• Easy to clean off

• Provide an extraordinary level of energy efficiency

• An enduring part of your interior that increases your Houston home’s value

• A range of personalization choices to craft the look you want while meeting your specific requirements

Along with these advantages, faux-wood Polywood® shutters have their own significant virtues: 

• Unrivaled toughness with resistance to harm that comes with extreme temps, moisture, and UV rays

• Will never be impacted by distorting, splitting, or chipping

• Innovative weatherstripping for noticeable energy efficiency and lower utility bills

Actually, Polywood shutters are able to do any job you require a window covering to perform, from upgrading your window’s beauty to obstructing cold drafts and damaging UV rays. They also work and look just as great decades later as the day you installed them.

The Cons

Plantation shutters’ one disadvantage is that they are only available in neutral colors. Even though their versatile coloring matches all types of designs, you’ll be required to settle for window shades or blinds if you have your heart set on window treatments with patterns or bold colors.

How To Utilize Interior Shutters

You can utilize interior shutters on any window within your Houston home. Customized shutters work with every type, size, and shape of window without forgoing their function. Put them on circular, angled, and French door windows just as easily as standard windows.

You are also able to place Polywood shutters in any area. Pick them for their resilience and energy efficiency in humid bathrooms, chilly attic dormers, or sunny rooms. Shutters are even a great choice in high-traffic spaces and children’s rooms as they don’t have cords that create a safety threat.

The Pros And Cons Of Window Shades

Window shades come in a range of contasting styles, although, for the most part, all feature a sheet of fabric positioned over your window. You generally pull the material up or down to shield and unshield your window using a cord or pull bar, although you will also discover motorized options as well.

Window shades don’t have louvers to manage sunlight and privacy, but sheer or loosely woven fibrous shades are able to permit light into lower-lit spaces while blocking the sightline into your interior. Or you can utilize top-down/bottom-up options that give you the chance to uncover the upper region of your window for sunlight while preserving your privacy below.

The Pros

Houston property owners like window shades due to the fact they come in a range of materials, styles, and colors. You’ll find shades with standard colors and bright hues, solid color or dramatic patterns, sheer or non-transparent styles, pleated fabric or woven fibers, and many different options. If you would like a unique design element while overhauling a space, window shades in the perfect color or material can elevate your overall design and shield your windows.

Individual window shade kinds have their own advantages too. Roller shades have a classic minimalist appearance. Cellular shades will boost efficiency. Tumble shades work well on glass doors. And sheer shades give you an agreeable mix of privacy and sunlight.

The Cons

Window shades aren’t as durable as firm window coverings and can be a chore to clean. Their materials will eventually blemish due to the sun or can tear, develop mold, or get stained. You can plan on replacing window shades every few years as they wear out or you update your interior design.

Window shades also offer less versatility in balancing exterior light and privacy than louvered shutters. Even pulling them up a bit means you lose your privacy on half of the window and can’t modify how light enters. And many window shades will display shadows if your lights are on at night. And square window shades in Houston make you to pick between concealing a non-standard window’s uncommon dimensions or leaving the window bare all the time.

How To Incorporate Window Shades

Many Houston property owners use window shades because they want colorful window treatments to go with their interior. They work best in low-traffic rooms where they can avoid damage from steady use.

You are also able to employ certain window shades for their particular purposes. Go with cellular shades to assist in blocking outside drafts. Slim roller shades work in spaces where you can’t use a bulky window treatment. Blackout shades keep out light so you can sleep. Woven fiber shades bring a natural element to your property. And remember, custom shades will always look and work better on your windows than off-the-rack options.

The Pros And Cons Of Window Blinds

Window blinds feature a row of long slats constructed with a solid material that you let down over your windows to shield them. Blinds operate with pull cords or cordless lift options. Along with concealing windows with blinds, you can also tilt the slats with a bar for additional command over sunlight.

The Pros

The advantages of window blinds are dependent on the materials they’re fabricated with. In theory, all blinds cover windows to obstruct outside light and sightlines inside your Houston residence, but their material and quality play a big role how well they accomplish this. You may notice sunshine and shadows with low-grade vinyl blinds. Vinyl and aluminum blinds also bow and snap without much difficulty, which leaves unsightly gaps that permit light. For these blinds, their low price and short lifespan make them advantageous mostly as temporary window coverings.

Well-made real wood and faux-wood blinds utilize stronger slats that envelop windows more thoroughly. You won’t see past them, and they don’t damage quickly. These materials, combined with the attractive horizontal contours of the slats, have a more sophisticated look as well. Premium natural wood and faux-wood blinds are available in classic neutral colors that look lovely in any space.

Blinds allow you to direct the quantity of light that passes through your windows. You are able to pull them up for an unrestricted view and full sunlight or lower them for privacy and darkness. With the blinds lowered, you can also rotate the slats for a partial view and the right amount of sunlight.

The Cons

Wood and faux-wood blinds appear similar to interior shutters but aren’t as tough. The cords that hold the slats together may unravel over the long haul, and wood slats can distort and crack from too much moisture or extreme temperature changes. Blinds also come with lots of components that will cause them to be difficult to clean, and the common pull cords could stick or get tangled if you make an effort to adjust them.

Despite the fact that custom blinds will suit your windows in terms of size, they don’t have the total coverage around the perimeter that shutters do as they aren’t built into a frame. You’ll also discover that both window blinds and shades in Houston can sway and slap your window if run into or taken by a wind gust. That movement opens a sightline to your interior and permits exterior light.

How To Utilize Window Blinds

Premium blinds are a great choice in any space on rectangular or square windows. Be sure to use waterproof faux-wood blinds in humid spaces like kitchens and baths. And automated or cord-free blinds are safer options if you have kids or pets.

Sunburst Has It All From Interior Shutters To Window Blinds And Shades In Houston

Would you like to know more about the differences between interior shutters, window blinds, and window shades in Houston? Sunburst Shutters Houston boasts the most incredible lineup of high-end window treatments around and can answer all of your questions. We offer no-charge in-home consultations to display our options and let you determine which window treatments are right for your property. Request yours by dialing 713-853-9629 or completing the following form.