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

Blinds, Shutters, and shades–oh my! The many distinct window treatments out there might seem too much when you are looking to select one for your New Brunswick property. Grasping the differences between each variety will assist you in deciding which ones will be best on the windows you have. Here, we explain the pros, drawbacks, and best uses of interior shutters, window blinds, and window shades in New Brunswick.

The Pros And Cons Of Interior Shutters

Louvered shutters are made of real wood or faux wood and go into your home where they are permanently affixed to your window with a shutter frame positioned over the window frame. Hinged panels within the frame open up for full light and a clear view or shut tightly to cover your window for a darker and private space. Whenever the panels are secured, you are also able to tilt open the slats for some light and shift them to redirect light where you want it.

The Pros

Plantation shutters stand out from other products because of their unique design. Along with their unmistakable look, they also offer many amazing bonuses for New Brunswick interiors:

• Enhance your home with enticing architectural detail

• Come in neutral hues to match your design now and later if you redesign

• Give You absolute privacy and near-total darkness when shut

• Open easily for sunlight and a sightline to your exterior

• Work with any specialty shaped window like circles and sunbursts

• Shift unwanted glare with the louvers

• A cinch to dust and clean

• Offer an amazing degree of energy efficiency

• A permanent feature that boosts your New Brunswick house’s value

• A range of customization choices to create the appearance you would like while fulfilling your unique needs

Along with these pros, faux-wood Polywood® shutters have their own noteworthy assets: 

• Unrivaled toughness with resistance to harm from extreme temps, humidity, and UV rays

• Will never be impacted by warping, facturing, or nicking

• Patented weatherstripping for exceptional energy efficiency and cost-savings

Generally, Polywood shutters can do any job you ask a window covering to accomplish, from upgrading your window’s beauty to obstructing cold air and damaging ultraviolet rays. And they operate and look just as nice decades later as the moment you installed them.

The Cons

Interior shutters’ one downside is that they come only in neutral tones. While their classic coloration goes with all kinds of style choices, you’ll be required to opt for window shades or blinds if you are determined to install colorful or patterned window treatments.

How To Incorporate Interior Shutters

You may utilize interior shutters on any window within your New Brunswick home. Customized shutters fit every size and shape of window without forgoing functionality. Put them on circular, triangular, and French door windows just as easily as normal square or rectangular windows.

You are also able to place Polywood shutters in any room. Choose them for their durability and superior efficiency in humid bathrooms, cool attic dormers, or sunny south-facing rooms. Shutters even work great in family areas and little ones’ rooms because they don’t use cords that pose a safety threat.

The Pros And Cons Of Window Shades

Window shades come in various differing styles, although, in general, all consist of a layer of fabric positioned at the top of your window. You typically pull the fabric down or up to enclose and uncover your window through a cord or pull bar, although you are able to discover motorized shades as well.

Window shades don’t have louvers to control light and privacy, but more transparent or more freely woven fibrous shades are able to allow light into dark rooms while obscuring views into your home. Or you could use top-down/bottom-up shades that let you open up the upper part of your window for light while protecting your privacy below.

The Pros

New Brunswick homeowners like window shades mainly because they come in a range of styles, colors, and materials. You’ll discover shades with neutral colors and vibrant tints, solid color or eye-catching patterns, sheer or non-transparent opacities, pleated fabric or natural fibers, and various additional options. If you would like a special focal point while redecorating a room, window shades in the perfect color or fabric can boost your ambience and shield your windows.

The differing window shade styles have their own advantages as well. Roller shades have a sleek appearance. Cellular shades are energy efficient. Tumble shades work well on glass doors. And sheer shades give you an agreeable combination of filtered light and privacy.

The Cons

Window shades aren’t as durable as rigid window coverings and may be difficult to clean. Their soft materials will in time fade due to the sun or might tear, develop mold, or show stains. You should plan on replacing window shades every three or four years as they wear out or you change up your interior design.

Window shades also provide less flexibility in balancing sunlight and privacy than plantation shutters. Even opening them part of the way means you lose your privacy on half of the window and you’re unable to adjust how the sunlight streams in in the open section. And many window shades will show your shadow when you have the lights on inside during the night. And square window shades in New Brunswick force you to decide between hiding a non-traditional window’s unique shape or keeping the window uncovered at all times.

How To Incorporate Window Shades

Numerous New Brunswick homeowners choose window shades because they are looking for specific colors of window products to go with their design. They work best in less active rooms where they won’t wear as quickly from frequent use.

You can also utilize various kinds of window shades for their specified purposes. Choose cellular shades to aid in halting cool air from entering. Slim roller shades work in places where you need to avoid a larger window treatment. Blackout shades stop sunlight to get a better night’s rest. Woven fiber shades bring a feeling of nature to your home. And remember, custom shades will always have more appeal and function more reliably on your windows than off-the-rack shades.

The Pros And Cons Of Window Blinds

Window blinds have movable slats made of a solid material that you bring down over your windows to shield them. Blinds can be used with pull cords or cordless lifting mechanisms. In addition to covering windows with blinds, you can also rotate the slats toward or away from you with a wand for more control over natural light.

The Pros

The advantages of window blinds depend on their material. By design, all blinds cover windows to obstruct sunlight and the view into your New Brunswick interior, but their type of material and construction play a big role how effectively they achieve this. You might see sunshine and silhouettes with low-cost vinyl blinds. Vinyl and aluminum blinds also curve and fracture with ease, which creates unsightly gaps that let in outside light. For these blinds, their affordability and lack of durability make them beneficial mostly as interim window coverings.

Quality real wood and faux-wood blinds utilize more robust slats that cover windows much better. You won’t be able to look past them, and they don’t damage easily. The natural wood and composite components, joined with the appealing horizontal edges of the slats, have a more sophisticated look too. Superior real wood and faux-wood blinds are available in classic neutral shades that go with the decor of any area.

Blinds permit you to manage the amount of light that passes through your windows. You may pull them up for an unrestricted view and full sunlight or close them for privacy and darkness. When the blinds are drawn down, you are also able to rotate the slats for a restricted view and some natural light.

The Cons

Wood and faux-wood blinds look similar to louvered shutters but aren’t nearly as durable. The cords that hold the slats together will fray over time, and wood slats might warp and splinter from too much humid air or extreme temperature variations. Blinds also have a great deal of components that will make them difficult to clean, and the common pull cords may stick or get tangled if you make an effort to use them.

Despite the fact that custom blinds will fit your windows just right, they can’t give you the total protection along the edges that shutters offer as they aren’t enclosed by a frame. You’ll also notice that both window blinds and shades in New Brunswick are prone to shift and slap your window if run into or impacted by a breeze. That movement opens a sightline to your interior and lets in sunlight.

How To Use Window Blinds

Premium blinds make sense in any area on rectangular or square windows. Make sure you only use waterproof faux-wood blinds in moist areas like kitchens and baths. And motorized or cordless blinds are safer options in the event you have children or animals.

Sunburst Has An Incredible Selection From Plantation Shutters To Window Blinds And Shades In New Brunswick

Want to know more about the the variances between louvered shutters, window blinds, and window shades in New Brunswick? Sunburst Shutters New Brunswick boasts the most comprehensive selection of exceptional window treatments in town and will is pleased to answer whatever questions you have. We conduct free in-home consultations to display our options and give you a chance to decide which window treatments make the most sense for your home. Arrange yours by calling 732-301-6168 or submitting the form on this page.