Types of Roller Blinds
September 22, 2022
Types of Roller Blinds
Roller blinds are simple, stylish, versatile window covering that can be used in any room in your house. There are countless variations in materials and style available that can help you really customize the look and feel of your room, and address functional needs in the space. You can purchase pre-made, pre-sized roller blinds, or have them custom-made to your exact specifications. Let’s look at some of the options you can choose from when you shop for roller blinds.
Pre-made or bespoke?
Pre-made roller blinds can be a fast and inexpensive option to cover a window, however you will be limited in the sizes available, and you must be careful to assess the quality and durability of the blind’s components. Off-the-shelf roller blinds can be made of substandard materials, such as cardboard rollers and cheap plastic mechanical components. This might suit your needs just fine, but the lifespan of cheap blinds will be shorter, and they may not be suitable for heavy use or environments such as bathrooms and kitchens that can have a lot of moisture in the air.
Customizing blinds
If you opt to invest in custom blinds, you can make a number of choices in the material the blinds are constructed from, and the hardware used.
Fabric options
The choice of fabric for your custom blinds probably feels like the most important decision you need to make. Traditional roller blinds are made of one single fabric, but even here you can choose to use light-proof or blackout fabric, solar reflective fabric to reduce solar heating, water-resistant fabrics for bathroom and kitchen uses, a low-emission fabric to reduce chemical off-gassing, or a hypoallergenic fabric that has been treated with a coating that makes it difficult for allergens to adhere. Vision or zebra rollers, and tri rollers, combine two or more layers of fabric of different opacity to give you more flexibility how much light you let in while still maintaining the privacy of a closed blind.
Roller options
Ideally, any custom blinds will come with durable, high-quality rollers, but even here you have many choices. The traditional roller blind comes with a chain on one side that you use to operate the blind mechanism. For safety, this is designed to break or come apart if a certain amount of force is applied, so that a child isn’t endangered if they get tangled up. You can also invest in several other options for roller mechanisms:
- Spring-loaded rollers allow you to raise and lower the blind just by tugging gently on the bottom edge, then raising or lowering the blind to your desired height.
- Crank-operated rollers replace the chain with a hand-operated crank. No entangling component is exposed so these are very safe for areas where there are small children or curious pets, and are a good option for classrooms and daycares.
- Motorized rollers use a small electric motor to operate the blind and, while more costly, are very easy to operate for most users and can even be linked you your phone or smart home software. Motorized blinds are very handy for people who have reduced mobility.
Roller blinds are a simple but stylish option for window coverings, and if you are willing to invest in custom blinds, your options are almost endless.