Finding the right balance between privacy and natural light can be a nightmare when your home is overlooked.

The best options available for your windows are magic screens and voiles… But which one will be the best choice for your home?

We’ve put together a list of the pros and cons of each to help you choose wisely and allow you to keep your privacy protected without being kept in the dark.

Magic Screen

Pros

• Durable and Lightweight Material – the pvc/polyester mix is both strong and robust, making it exceptionally easy to clean, as well as being delicate enough to let the light filter through
• Complete Privacy During the Day – as long as there’s light outside, this Diffusion material will keep the view into your home protected perfectly
• Protects Against UV Rays – designed to help keep the suns glare out of your home, these screens are perfect for offices and living rooms, protecting your screens against glare as well as helping to stop your upholstery fading
• Range of Colours Available – from whites, creams and naturals to darker shades of grey and black, we have the perfect colour screen for your room

Cons

• Only Works During the Day – unfortunately, as soon as it’s dark outside and you have lights on in your home, the screen protection is reversed, allowing people to see inside

Voile

Pros

• Light and Airy – voiles are so delicate they instantly bring a light and airy feeling into your home, perfect for smaller rooms that can feel a little cramped and dark
• Choice of Dressings – choose between roman blinds and roller blinds or even go for a pair of curtains to help you create the perfect look in your home
• Doesn’t Hinder the View – you’ll still be able to see clear as day outside, meaning that you can fully enjoy the benefits of your view any time

Cons

• Don’t Work With Lights On – if you’ve got your lights on inside, people will be able to see through the voile quite easily, which can cause issues when it comes to the evening
• Combinations Work Best – to ensure voiles are effective, it’s best to combine them with other blinds and curtains made from standard materials so you can enjoy light protection during the day and complete protection at nighttime

Magic Screens are definitely a better choice for overlooked homes as they’ll offer you the best protection.

If you have more open space around your home but you still want a little protection at your window, a Voile would be a better choice as it’s lighter and more airy.

You can order free samples for all the materials from our website or give us a call on 0800 862 0466 if you have any further questions.

Soft, sumptuous and oh so decadent, these Zola Indigo curtains are guaranteed to give your home a glamorous lift.

Luxurious Fabric

The crushed velvet material positively shimmers and shines as it catches the light, creating an eye-catching focal point in your room and adding a touch of luxury to your home.

Choice of Linings

The thicker the lining you choose, the fuller the fabric will look so if you want ultimate luxury and protection, a blackout lining is the one for you.

Our thermal lining will not only add volume to the material, it will also keep the temperature controlled in your room and help you cut the costs of your energy bills.

If you don’t fancy either of these, there’s also a standard lining available that will let light filter through gently to make sure your room stays feeling airy and light.

Bold and Beautiful

The striking azure sheen to the fabric is a brave and brilliant choice for your room, especially if you’re decorating a more neutral space with bold blue accents.

Different Headings Available

Whether you have a rail or a pole, we supply curtains to suit your needs.

Choose between eyelet, pinch pleat and double pinch pleat heading to suit your home and we’ll figure out how much additional fabric to use to ensure your curtains have plenty of gather.

Glitz and Glamour

There’s something distinctly glam about crushed velvet and these curtains are certainly no exception so if you’re looking to glam up your home, they’ll be the perfect choice for you.

Sometimes rooms can really benefit from layering at the windows. When you have a more traditional decor, one of the greatest and most stylish ways to truly benefit your home is by using wooden venetian blinds combined with curtains.

A Natural Touch

Real wood venetian blinds are an excellent choice to add a natural, more organic feel to your home.

When that’s combined with a curtain that features a rough and rustic weave, such as the Denver Stripe Linen curtains pictured above, you can create the perfect finishing touch to your traditional and timeless decor.

Excellent Light Control

Venetian blinds offer you the best light control available – with a simple pull of the tilt cord, you can spin the slats to allow as much or as little light through as possible. The only possible issue with them is that they can’t offer you full blackout protection.

That’s where pairing them with curtains can come in handy – you can opt for a blackout lining that will keep your room shaded and dark, allowing you to relax fully as well as staying cosy and snug.

Perfect for Privacy

With excellent light control comes excellent privacy and, once again, venetian blinds are one of the better choices to keep your home protected.

However if you want to keep your blinds open to let as much light through as possible, you can combine them with a pair of standard lined curtains to allow the sunlight to filter through softly.

Even better, pair them with voile curtains to ensure that you get the best of both worlds – plenty of light in your home whilst not having to worry about the outside world being able to see in.

Keeping your blinds clean can be a tiresome task so we’re here to guide you through the top three ways to keep your roman blinds looking as good as new.

Light Hoovering

This may seem like a quick and easy fix but be warned – you will have to be delicate and gentle with your blinds, particularly if they have an embroidery on them, to avoid damaging the fabric. Using the upholstery attachment on your hoover is the safest way to do this.

By simply hoovering from left to right or top to bottom, you will pick up any collecting dust and ensure that your blind remains clean and fresh – and you won’t even need to take it down!

Dry Cleaning

We believe dry cleaning is the best option by far – not only does it give you one less thing to worry about but it also guarantees that your blinds will come back to you in top condition.

This is especially effective if you have velvet or silk blinds as they require extra care when it comes to cleaning – your dry cleaners will know exactly what to do and what not to do to ensure your blinds stay safe and in one piece.

Wipe With A Damp Cloth

If your roman blind has a stubborn stain or mark on the fabric, you can use warm, soapy water to wash it away.

Be sure not to use any cleaning products that will be too strong or potentially harmful to the fabric with a soft, clean sponge to gently rub at the offending area. Once the mark is removed, simply rinse lightly with clean water and pat dry with a towel.

Note: Velvets and Silks can absorb water easily and stain, so we would recommend dry cleaning these fabrics instead.

Whether you have an open plan home or just a large room that you’d like to section off, you don’t necessarily need to look for planning permission to install another wall or two.

A much easier, quicker and tidier solution is using a room divider… And guess what can be a really good choice for those?

Vertical Blinds

An excellent choice for room dividers, vertical blinds create a seamless and sophisticated divide that will allow you to keep sections of your room private yet still easy to access.

With a large array of colours and materials available, you can fully customise the finish of your blinds to perfectly compliment your decor or create a beautiful accent in your home.

Roller Blinds

Ideal for sectioning off a small area of your room – such as the entrance to a pantry or storage area – roller blinds are easy to fit and easy to use.

You can even choose a voile-like roller blind to act as a screen, successfully sectioning off your room without making it feel small and cramped.

Single Curtain

If your looking for the perfect solution to covering doorways or hallway entrances, look no further than a single curtain.

Even better, if you incorporate a thermal lining on the back of the fabric, they’ll even act as extra insulation to keep your room feeling nice and toasty.

Panel Blinds

Create an additional wall in your large room, cutting it down to the perfect size, by using a panel blind.

Available in various colours, materials and designs, you can create a seamless look that is the perfect way to turn those larger rooms into two smaller ones.

Usually a popular choice for upholstery, you can also use suede to make both blinds and curtains.

This can add a sophisticated style to your home like no other but is it the right choice for you? Take a look at the pros and cons of both real and faux suede before you decide…

Real Suede

Pros

• Natural colours – for those of you who want to give your home a rich, organic feel, suede can be the perfect option as it’s available in a wide array of natural tan tones
• Gorgeous texture – with an almost velvety finish, this super soft, super smooth material adds a touch of understated glamour to your windows
• Classic and stylish – for the designer hungry customers, suede can be a great option because it positively radiates style and class

Cons

• Expensive – as with most luxury materials, suede is an expensive option
• Hard to clean – real suede sucks up moisture and oils easily, leaving marks and stains so needs regular and specialist up-keeping

Faux Suede

Pros

• Value for money – it’s a cheaper alternative to real suede, meaning that you can save a few pennies for the important things in life
• Looks amazing – sumptuous and smooth, you’ll want to award a prize to anyone who can tell that it isn’t real suede
• Harder to stain – the faux fabric is treated in a different manner meaning that it’s more water resistant and less likely to stain and mark

Cons

• Less durable – more susceptible to wear and tear so you’ll have to handle it gently
• Collects dust and hair – you’ll need to make sure that you’re able to clean your window dressing easily because the dust and hair in your home will be drawn to it

If you have small children, faux suede will be a better option for you – they’re grabbing hands and tendency to throw things they shouldn’t won’t have a damaging affect on the material – the same applies to pets, even though their hair may stick to your blinds or curtains, it will a lot easier to and cheaper to clean than real suede.

However, if you’re confident that you’re windows are nicely out the way and not likely to be pawed at by children or pets, there’s no reason that real suede can’t be the solution for you.

October is here and that time when the ghosties and shoulies and long legged beasties and things that go bump in the night come out to play is drawing near so we thought we’d shine our spotlight on a very relevant and very stylish blind this month… The Los Muertos Gold roller blind!

Stylish design

Intricately detailed, this beautiful sugar skull design echoes a stylish and exotic charm, bringing a little slice of the Mexican Day of the Dead festival right into your home.

The sophisticated colour scheme adds a further style to this blind, ensuring that it will be an on-trend and quirky touch to your decor.

Choose your lining

As it’s part of our Options range, you get full control over whether you have a standard, blackout or energy saving lining on your blind.

So if you want to keep your bedroom nice and shaded to make sure you get the best night’s sleep you can or if you want to cut those energy bills down to size and keep your lounge feeling snug and cosy, we’ve got the perfect lining for you.

Different colours available

If you’re more into monochrome decor, we have the Los Muertos Starlight option that trades the gold detailing for a bright white accent.

Why not invert the colours and take a look at our equally striking Los Muertos White roller blind? A great choice for a more neutral interior that needs a little spice adding to it!

Suitable for kitchens and bathrooms

This 100% polyester roller blind is water resistant so it would be a suitable companion for a kitchen or a bathroom.

Being extremely easy to clean as well, most marks and stains will wipe away in an instant, guaranteeing that it has a long life expectancy.

Nickel chain

All our roller blinds are sent out with a nickel operating chain to add a further touch of style and elegance to your window.

What’s more, this nickel chain is more durable than it’s plastic counterpart and is guaranteed to last longer so you have complete peace of mind.

With the price of cinema tickets creeping up steadily by the year, many people have turned Film Night into a homegrown event.

Whilst you get to keep the creature comforts of your own comfy sofa and an unlimited supply of popcorn – not to mention being able to pause the film if you need to nip to the toilet – sometimes watching films on the small screen isn’t quite the same.

Enter projectors!

With this handy way to show films on a larger scale in the comfort of your own home, you may never want to visit the cinema again… But what if you don’t have enough clear wall space, or if your patterned wallpaper is going to play with the projection too much?

This is where one of our simple, plain white roller blinds can prove to be very, very useful.

Although you can buy screens both on the high street and online, they do come with quite a hefty price tag – the larger you want the screen to be, the more money you will have to part with.

The bonus of using a blind instead is that they can be made to much larger sizes for a much smaller cost.

So which blinds are the best ones to use, and why?

Essential White Blackout Roller Blind

Made from a matte fabric that is extremely versatile, our standard blackout blinds are best suited for viewing TV shows and movies on a bigger screen.

It’s also suitable for any types of projectors from any positions – whether they are ceiling mounted, plugged in to your laptop or television or even one of these handy shoebox projectors (we found a great how-to guide for one on Indestructables, click here to see that), they’ll all work perfectly with a standard blackout blind.

Spray Frost Blackout Roller Blind

This waterproof blind uses a reflective fabric which is guaranteed to give the best possible image for projectors if used correctly.

Best suited to over-head projectors that are ceiling mounted, the reflective fabric is ideal for HD images from blu-ray players or games consoles as it will ensure the image remains crisp and clear.

If you have a window at the foot of your bed or opposite your sofa, you could use either of these blinds as a multifunctional window dressing – the blackout properties of them both mean that they will absorb the light from the projector and not let it leak through, so you won’t be unintentionally putting on a show for the passers-by!

Soft and sultry, velvets and chenilles add a funky and glamorous feel to your home.

Whether you prefer to have the real deal dressing your window or if the faux alternative is fabulous enough, we’ve put together a list of the pros and cons of each so you can be completely sure that you’ve made the right decision…

Real Velvet

Pros

• Eye-catching and elegant – the gorgeous texture and shimmering finish to velvet really gives it a glamorous and elegant feel, making it the perfect choice to glam up your home
• Soft texture – it doesn’t just look stunning, it also feels incredible, making you want to reach out and touch it as you pass by
• Excellent choice of colours – from neutrals and naturals to bright and bold, velvet is available in a wide choice of colours to perfectly suit your decor
• Insulation – the beautifully thick material will help to keep your room shaded and cosy regardless of the lining you choose

Cons

• Price – as a luxury fabric, it can be quite an expensive choice
• Difficult to clean – dry cleaning is recommended when a heavy clean is necessary, otherwise you’ll need to keep it hoovered regularly to stop the mount up of dust
• Beware of over use – if you have velvet upholstery, you may want to steer clear of velvet window dressings as well as over-using the material can often make an elegant room begin to look a little gaudy

Faux Velvet

Pros

• Affordable alternative – just as gorgeous but slightly cheaper, you’ll have enough money left in your pocket to treat yourself to something nice
• Full and thick – still as sumptuous as it’s real counterpart, your windows will be given a beautiful texture and depth

Cons

• Awkward to clean – water can be easily absorbed into the material which can lead to staining so it’s better to take any blinds/curtains to a dry cleaner if they need to be cleaned
• Can fade in sunlight – if it’s placed in direct sunlight, the fabric can begin to fade which can be an issue for south facing windows and darker colours

Real or faux, velvet is still a fabric that you’ll want to reach out and touch every time you walk past it.

While the real option has that extra air of elegance, the faux choice can be a much cheaper alternative and may be worth looking into for those larger blinds or curtains.

Either way, both will fill your home with a glamorous charm and add a sense of luxury that you can only get from a soft, sumptuous velvet…

Let our free thermal lining offer help you cut your energy bills down to size this winter.

With a huge selection of both blinds and curtains available with the free upgrade, you can create the perfect finish to your room whilst guaranteeing that your home will stay warm and cosy throughout the winter months.

Not only will the thermal lining keep your room warm when the temperature drops outside, it will also help to keep your room cooler in the summer once the seasons change, meaning that you can take advantage of it’s energy saving benefits all year round.