There are three steps to choosing the right blind fabric: Opacity, Colour and Texture.

STEP 1 - CHOOSE YOUR OPACITY

Choose from sheer, screen, translucent or blockout depending on your light filtering and privacy needs.

STEP 2 – CHOOSE YOUR COLOUR

It is not all about looking good. Different colours affect the comfort in your home. Like a dark car getting hot, a dark coloured blind will absorb and radiate heat into your home, but the view through the fabric will be almost as sharp as looking through a tinted window. Exactly opposite, a white coloured blind is ideal for heat protection but is not as good at reducing glare.

Don’t take the colour choice lightly. A colour’s ability to keep your home cool can be tripled if you choose a light colour vs. a dark one. As with the sheer fabrics, dark will be incredibly efficient at giving you a very clear view to the outside and reducing the glare. Obviously if you want heat + view + glare protection, you will need to compromise slightly and pick an “in between” colour like grey or beige.

Translucent blinds are a magic way to flood your interior with softened & slightly coloured light. You can be certain to reduce glare & keep perfect clarity. Once again, light colours will be more suitable when keeping the heat out is the goal.

When choosing blockout blinds the fabric blocks out all the outside light, so the colour you choose is the colour you will see, and won’t distort with any light shining through. For that reason, the choice is easy: choose a colour to suit your furniture & flooring and make sure you like it! The back of the fabric can be either white, to reflect most of the heat, or it can be the same colour as the front of the fabric. The latter option is also a good choice if you don’t want to see the white backing at the top the blind when it rolls up on the tube.

STEP 3 – CHOOSE YOUR TEXTURE

Sheer: Textures add depth & sophistication. It is really a matter of taste, but any texture you have on a sheer fabric will be very visible when natural light is filtering through the fabric. A textured sheer is a very effective way of adding a discreet decorative element in your interior design scheme.

Screen: Screen fabrics come in several different weaves, but the end result is fairly similar. The two most popular (and most important) weaves are:
• The basket weave, also called 2x2. It gives the clearest view through.
• The half basket weave, also called 1x2. It will give a softer look like a classic sheer fabric.

Translucent: Most translucent fabrics are matched with a blockout fabric, therefore it is possible to keep a similar look & texture throughout your home. Plain & textured fabrics exist and the choice is a simple matter of taste. As opposed to sheer fabrics, the texture tends to become more obvious at night, without natural light shining through.

Blockout: There are so many choices and unique looks. From the most conservative interiors, to the most daring layouts, they can all be dressed with a well matched texture. Over the past 10 years textile designers & weavers from all over the world have given a unique flare to the texture of soft furnishing & upholstery. Blind texture can be an integral part of your interior scheme.