Window Roller Blinds Buying Guide
13 Jul 2020
Roller window blinds make for a great choice - but only when chosen correctly. Selecting the right roller window blinds is a matter of light control, sun protection, fabric style & colour and the operating system. With so many decisions to make, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or make the wrong choice. If you are thinking of window roller blinds for your home, you need to consider the following factors.

Space constraints

As sizes of apartments in India’s cities get smaller, it is important to make the most of the space available. While curtains take a lot of space, window roller blinds take no additional space as they fit into the window recess. For sliding windows, the roller blinds sit close against the wall, look neat and streamlined, and completely roll away when not in use. These features allow roller window blinds to make your room look bigger and clutter-free.

Fabric opacity & light control

Your choice of fabric opacity will depend on your need for privacy, light control and light blockage. You have 4 options of fabrics to choose from:

Dim-out fabric - If you find yourself waking up early due to the sunlight spilling in through the sheer window coverings or, if you have an untraditional schedule that requires you to sleep during the day then you must choose the dim-out fabric. By completely blocking the sunlight, dim-out fabric lets you create room darkening on demand which helps improve your sleep quality.

Translucent fabric - With apartments windows peeping into each other, maintaining privacy is a challenge and it comes by trading off the sunlight entering your room. Translucent fabrics let the sunlight through but block outside views into your home, thus helping you achieve the perfect balance between privacy and light control.

Semi-transparent fabric - This is the perfect choice of fabric if you wish to block extreme sunlight while maintaining your views of the outside world. Semi-transparent fabrics make for a good choice for spaces such as living rooms and study.

Sheer fabric - If you prefer plenty of natural light, but filtered and diffused through a soft fabric, then you must choose sheer fabric for your roller window blinds. Sheer fabrics also allow you an almost unrestricted view of the outside.

Fabric material

Your choice of fabric material becomes extremely critical if aspects like UV protection and energy efficiency are your priority. When it comes to the fabric material, you have the following choices:

Polyester material - Fabrics made of polyester offer more than 50% saving in energy costs and maintain an effective thermal comfort indoors.

Fibreglass material - These offer up to 90% protection from UV and solar heat. Their strong and durable nature makes them the perfect choice for outdoors even under harsh weather conditions and temperature.

Environmentally friendly material - Made out of PVC materials that are environmentally friendly and recyclable, these fabrics are perfect for those who are conscious about their carbon footprint. The low smoke emission also makes this fabric the perfect choice for enclosed rooms.

Durability & cleaning

You would want your window blinds to last long and also be easy to clean. Do check to ensure that your fabric is:

Resistant to dust

Resistant to bacterial growth. If the fabric is anti-bacterial then it’s even better

Resistant to staining and easy to clean

The fabric colour shouldn’t fade by constant exposure to UV rays

The fabric must not stretch or deform due to exposure to moisture

Colour, design & texture of the fabric

Since there are plenty of choices available in the colour, design & texture of fabrics, spend some time considering your options and ensure that your choice fits the style of your apartment and is exactly as per your taste. The operating system for your roller window blinds

The operating system of your window roller blinds will determine how much you enjoy your roller blinds. Here, you have two choices to consider:

Manual operation - This system operates the roller window blinds with a stainless steel chain and clutch. Manual operating systems are recommended for only small to heavy sized roller blinds that are to be individually operated.

Automatic operation/ Motorised operation - If you are habituated to frequent opening and closing of the window blinds throughout the day, then you must choose the automatic operation system which comes with many advantages. For ex. EOS PowerView® Automation from Hunter Douglas allows you to control or schedule your window roller shades through a remote control, through a mobile app and even through voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

Prefer only premium roller window blinds

Only premium window roller blinds can offer you the complete choice of fabric opacity, fabric material, colours, designs & textures. Hence you must only opt for premium window roller blinds.

Should roller window blinds be purchased online?

While there are plenty of roller window blinds available on online marketplaces in India, it is not recommended to buy roller window blinds online. Such roller window blinds are only available in standard sizes and hence won’t fit well if your window size differs. For your best experience, we recommend that you opt only for customised window blinds and refrain from buying roller window blinds online. Where to buy Hunter Douglas Roller Window Blinds? Hunter Douglas offers the most premium roller window blinds. To buy Hunter Douglas Roller Window Blinds you can visit a Hunter Douglas Dealer near you. You can also submit an enquiry online by clicking here.