Curtains or blinds for patio doors?
Patio doors are an increasingly popular option to the modern home. Typically, patio doors are large, tall doors that exist to bring in lots of natural light and provide an open feel to the patio and garden. We understand that each window and door is different, and so we believe choosing between curtains and blinds to cover your patio doors should not come solely down to personal preference, but should be considered in a number of specific areas. This article will analyse these areas and conclude that blinds are a better choice for patio doors than curtains.
Light
Patio doors are often large borderless windows that give a great view of the outdoors. On a sunny day, not only do your patio doors provide a fantastic view of the outside, but they also bring a beautiful stream of natural light into your home. When considering between curtains and blinds for patio doors, it’s important to keep natural light in mind. Curtains are good for blocking light out, however they don’t provide much versatility for allowing light in.
With perfect fit blinds, Venetian blinds, vertical blinds and pleated blinds, you can adapt their positioning to control how much light is filtered into the room. A simple twist of the cord modifies the openness of the blind on a spectrum between fully open and completely closed. Keeping the blinds fully closed will provide you with a similar level to curtains in restricting light. However, unlike curtains, you will not need to retract the blind in order to get a view of the outside. Open blinds grant you a clear view of the garden while still providing stylish covering.
Space
How much space your curtains or blinds will occupy is a vital consideration for patio doors. The majority of patio doors are designed to take up a lot of space and so would need to be partnered with small, lightweight coverings. Curtains come in a variety of materials and designs; however, most curtains are considerably heavier than blinds. Covering large areas would entail greater weight and thus would also need a relatively bulky curtain rail to provide rigid support. Further, curtains retract horizontally and therefore would need space to live by the sides when the doors wish to be uncovered. As a result, curtains may be impractical for spacious patio doors.
Blinds are much more lightweight and take up much less space than curtains. Perfect fit and vertical blinds don’t need any space beyond the doors themselves and so are much better at accommodating large or even borderless doors.
Maintenance
Due to the typical large design of patio doors, the maintenance involved in using a covering can potentially be time consuming. Depending on the type of curtains you install, cleaning your curtains will most likely need to be done either through vacuuming, washing by hand, washing by machine or steam cleaned. None of these options are particularly efficient. Vacuuming curtains can be frustrating, with the curtains often getting sucked up by the vacuum and potentially becoming damaged. Washing the curtains will mean you would need to remove and reinstall the curtains and is much less energy efficient given the amount of water being used.
Keeping blinds clean is a much easier and more beneficial process to the environment. Most blinds, such as Venetian blinds, wooden blinds and roller blinds need only a damp cloth or duster to quickly wipe away any dust or dirty marks. This makes them much easier than curtains to clean and maintain.
At Humberside Sunblinds, we provide a huge variety of blinds to accommodate every window and door. For more information, please contact our expert team today.
