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

Shutters, shades, and blinds–oh my! The many distinct window treatments available might feel too much when you have to pick one for your Indianapolis property. Knowing the differences between each kind will help you decide which styles will function and look best on the windows you have. We can help by exploring the pros, disadvantages, and best uses of plantation shutters, window shades, and window blinds in Indianapolis.

The Pros And Cons Of Plantation Shutters

Plantation shutters are constructed of hardwood or a highly durable composite and go inside your residence where they are permanently affixed to your window with the shutter’s frame built around the window frame. Hinged panels within the frame smoothly glide open for total light and a clear view or shut tightly to encompass your window for privacy and darkness. If the panels are secured, you are also able to rotate the rows of louvers for some sunshine and shift them to redirect light where you want it.

The Pros

Interior shutters rise above other options thanks to their unique design. Along with their unmistakable look, they also supply various incredible advantages for Indianapolis properties:

• Enhance your home with alluring architectural styling

• Come in neutral hues to match your interior in the present and later if you redesign

• Provide total privacy and near-total darkness when secured

• Open easily for light and views to your property

• Fit any specialty shaped window like circles and sunbursts

• Redirect unwanted glare with the louvers

• Simple to dust off

• Offer superior energy efficiency

• An enduring feature that boosts your Indianapolis property’s value

• Various customization possibilities to craft the style you would like and meet all of your needs

On top of these pros, faux-wood Polywood® shutters come with their own noteworthy assets: 

• Unsurpassed resiliency with resistance to distress due to cold, heat, humidity, and the sun

• Never experiences bending, splitting, or chipping

• Patented weatherstripping for noticeable energy efficiency and cost-savings

Actually, Polywood shutters are able to do anything you require a window covering to do, from enhancing your window’s beauty to stopping cold breezes and harmful ultraviolet rays. And they operate and look just as superb decades later as the day you installed them.

The Cons

Interior shutters’ lone drawback is that they come only in neutral colors. While their classic hues match all sorts of style choices, you’ll have to settle for window shades or blinds if you are determined to install colorful or patterned window treatments.

How To Incorporate Plantation Shutters

You may incorporate plantation shutters on any window within your Indianapolis property. Customized shutters work with any type, size, and shape of window without losing functionality. Put them on circular, triangular, and French door windows just as easily as standard windows.

You may also place Polywood shutters in any room. Choose them for their resilience and energy efficiency in humid bathrooms, cool attic dormers, or sun-filled south-pointing rooms. Shutters are even a great choice in heavily occupied areas and little ones’ rooms as they don’t have cords that create a safety risk.

The Pros And Cons Of Window Shades

Window shades are available in a range of contasting styles, although, for the most part, all consist of a sheet of fabric positioned at the top of your window. You generally pull the shade down or up to enclose and uncover your window through a built-in pull bar or cord, although you are able to find motorized options as well.

Window shades don’t have louvers to provide partial light and privacy, but lower opacity or more freely woven fiber shades will let light into lower-lit rooms while obstructing the view into your home. Or you can utilize top-down/bottom-up styles that give you the chance to open up the top of your window for light while protecting your privacy on the lower half.

The Pros

Indianapolis homeowners prefer window shades mainly because they come in many different materials, styles, and colors. You’ll find shades with standard colors and bright tints, solid color or dramatic patterns, transparent or blackout styles, neatly folded fabric or fibrous materials, and various different options. If you’re looking for a stylish accent when redecorating a room, window shades in the perfect color or fabric can elevate your decor and shield your windows.

Individual window shade types have their own benefits as well. Roller shades have a restrained appearance. Cellular shades are energy efficient. Tumble shades are smart choices for door windows. And sheer shades provide an agreeable combination of light and privacy.

The Cons

Window shades don’t last as long as rigid window coverings and are often difficult to clean. Their materials will in time discolor on account of the sun or may rip, become moldy, or get stained. You should expect to replace window shades every few years as they break down or you update your interior design.

Window shades also offer less flexibility in balancing light and privacy than plantation shutters. Even pulling them up a bit means you lose your privacy on half of the window and you’re not able to change how sunshine floods in in the open section. And many window shades will allow shadows to appear whenever you have the lights on inside at night. And square window shades in Indianapolis make you to decide between concealing a non-traditional window’s unique dimensions or leaving the window exposed permanently.

How To Incorporate Window Shades

Most Indianapolis property owners opt for window shades when they are looking for bold or patterned window products to match their design. They are best suited for low-traffic spaces where they won’t get damaged by steady engagement.

You are also able to use certain window shades for their specific purposes. Select cellular shades to aid in halting exterior airflow. Slim roller shades work in places where you don’t want a larger window treatment. Blackout shades keep bedrooms dark to get a better night’s rest. Woven fiber shades add an element of nature to your home. And remember, custom shades will always look and work better on your windows than off-the-rack shades.

The Pros And Cons Of Window Blinds

Window blinds consist of long, connected slats constructed with a solid material that you let down over your windows to conceal them. Blinds can be used with pull cords or cordless functionality. Along with concealing windows with blinds, you are also able to rotate the slats with a bar for extra command over exterior light.

The Pros

The advantages of window blinds are dependent on their material. By design, all blinds conceal windows to block exterior light and sightlines within your Indianapolis home, but their material and quality determine how effectively they accomplish this. You might see sun and silhouettes with low-grade vinyl blinds. Metal and vinyl blinds also bow and fracture easily, which leaves unsightly spaces that permit outside light. For these blinds, their affordability and limited longevity make them advantageous primarily as short-term window coverings.

Quality natural wood and faux-wood blinds have sturdier slats that envelop windows much better. You won’t see through them, and they don’t break easily. The natural wood and composite components, joined with the appealing horizontal contours of the slats, look more sophisticated too. Superior real wood and faux-wood blinds are available in adaptable neutral colors that look lovely in any room.

Blinds let you manage the quantity of light that enters through your windows. You are able to move them up for an unrestricted view and complete light or lower them for privacy and darkness. With the blinds closed, you are also able to turn the slats for a limited view and a bit natural light.

The Cons

Wood and faux-wood blinds look similar to louvered shutters but aren’t as long-lasting. The cords intertwined with the slats may come apart over the long haul, and wood slats could warp and splinter from excess moisture or drastic temperature variations. Blinds also have a great deal of parts that can make them tricky to clean, and the common pull cords may get tangled up or stick if you make an effort to use them.

Even though custom blinds will fit your windows in terms of size, they don’t have the full coverage over the perimeter that shutters offer since they aren’t built into a frame. You’ll also find that both window blinds and shades in Indianapolis are prone to shift and slap your window if run into or taken by a gust of air. This moving around provides a view to outsiders and permits exterior light.

How To Incorporate Window Blinds

Premium blinds are a great choice in any space on square or rectangle windows. Make sure you only choose waterproof faux-wood blinds in humid spaces like bathrooms and kitchens. And motorized or cordless blinds provide safer choices if you have children or animals.

Sunburst Has Everything From Interior Shutters To Window Blinds And Shades In Indianapolis

Want to know more about the pros and cons of plantation shutters, window shades, and window blinds in Indianapolis? Sunburst Shutters Indianapolis offers the most comprehensive selection of exceptional window treatments around and will is pleased to answer all of your questions. We conduct complimentary in-home consultations to display our products and let you determine which window treatments make the most sense for your home. Request yours by placing a call to 317-558-9066 or completing the following form.