Blinds or no Blinds

Hello brains trust!

I'm helping my brother renovate his property and I am weighing up whether to get blinds or not.

1. It is a villa.
2. All bedrooms face a rear private courtyard
3. All bedrooms have the roller shutters (manual)

Thought process #1 - No blinds
1. Its pretty private with the blinds open
2. Use the roller shutter instead

Thought process #2 - Install thin white curtains that let heaps of light in
1. Its pretty private with the blinds open, but this gives extra privacy
2. Use the roller shutter instead

Thought process #3 - install roller blinds (single) (Block out)
1. Minimise the use (and potential breakage) of roller shutter
2. Looks better with a blinds than no blinds.

Right now I'm leaning towards #3 (roller blinds).

 

#3 is the most practical, #2 if money is an issue but it's likely to be a negligible difference. #3 will look better too. You can get light coloured blinds that keep out most of the light, never as good as thick curtains for blocking out light but perfectly adequate for most places and easier to maintain than curtains which constantly seem to need new hooks etc.

 

This ^ ^

 

I'd probably go with rollerblinds

 

Id go with 3 but i dont like roller blinds! get Venetians

replacing the cords and mechinisms for roller shutters can be expensive mostly because it's hard to find service guys. let tenants use the shutters for heat/cold use rather than daily light

 

Roller blinds, look sleek. I'd go with the blockout option if your are choosing either sunscreen or total blockout. Have the sunscreen at my current place and at night light will come through (e.g. street light, full moon) and not great for light sleeper

 

Thanks all!
Next question.... where to get them?

Roller blinds I've purchased from Spotlight in the past, but they don't have a sale on the block out ones i want.

Half Price Blinds pricing looks good... but Product Review shows some pretty negative reviews (I'm not sure how real the "Excellent" reviews are... whether they are enticed by the vendor - eg Koala mattress or one of those companies offered purchasers a $100 coles gift card for a positive review on Product Review - hence the high number of positive votes).

 

@neK See if you can get quote from blinds company as well - some of them can be quite reasonable

 

Venetian Blinds | Blinds Online

Haven't used them but they sell venetians. Thought I'd get in first so i can get my way

I did buy venetians online from somewhere 4 years. Still working as new

 

Some roller blinds bought 'off the shelf' are poor quality. May depend on how long you want them to last.
I ended up going through a blind company. A huge difference in price among the companies. I ended up with 4 different quotes. Somerset blinds, Winning, Kresta and CBI. I ended up with CBI

 

Bunnings, cheap as chips.

 

Plot twist
#4 tint your windows.

 

Plantations shutters are nice, but expensive.
One would need to weigh them up against the potential rent.
No one is going to pay an extra $50-$100 because a place has plantation shutters.
Better off spending that money on A/C if the place doesn't have one.

Anyway, I went with Roller Blinds for bed rooms and timber venetians in the kitchen (closer match to the Plantation shutters that were already in the living room). Used Blinds Online | Largest Range, Lowest Prices. Roller Blinds, Venetian, Vertical, Roman and more., overall not too bad.

 

We ended up with close to a house lot of brand new custom cut roller blinds for one of our IPs- I saw an ad on gumtree for a few sizes, and when I rang it was a guy that custom makes roller blinds, he had some that had been mis cut for other jobs, and he ended up cutting them all down to fit my windows (my windows were smaller than what the blinds were) and installing them for $350! I would ring around the small local blind guys and see if you have any luck. The best part was we didn't have to cut any to size or install them.

 

I hate roller blinds. Chunky white pvc venetians all the way.

Link to Bunnings venetians here;

Search - Our range

 

Number 3 with dual blockout/privacy

 

Blockout roller blinds are excellent. However, sunscreen rollers could be better in this instance. Sunscreen rollers will give you day time privacy and light control, and as you already have roller shutters on these windows, they can be used for night time privacy. You can see different types of roller blinds and their prices online. Ultimately, there are various qualities available and the prices will be different.