Roman Blind advice

[Twittwattwoo2]

Our kitchen is north facing and I want to keep it as light as possible. I want to fit a roman blind on the outside of the window and higher than the actual window so that I lose as little light as possible.

As I want the blind more as a window dressing than to actually use for privacy does the blind need to be the full drop?

Will it make a lot of difference to the price?
The longer the drop, the deeper it will be when it's pulled up too. If you're really never going to let it right down then there's no need to have the full drop.

It doesn't make much difference to the price, about £95 full drop, £75 shorter. I think I would maybe have the blind half way down on an evening but there would be no need for it to be right down.

I ordered some samples from an online company and will probably order from there, if Dh thinks he'll be able to fit the blind ok. He's not been great at fitting some roller blinds, I've no idea if fitting roman blinds is easier or not?

The pic of the striped blind is the blind I want to order, fitted as the second pic outside the recess. So I'm probably actually better off ordering it in a shorter drop so I have less bunched up fabric? It will be right up almost all of the time.

If you order it shorter then when you have it down in the evenings (you said you'd have it about half way down) then it will be pretty obvious that the blind is too short for the window. They are bulkier the longer they are, but unless you have really long windows then one which fits isn't going to be bulky really. The folds of fabric are part of the look.

Roman's are pretty easy to fit.

I don't mind about the cost, I just don't want it looking bulky when it's up, which will be most of the time.

The measurements are 165 wide by 110/115 drop (that would be the full drop of the window plus 10/15 extra as I want the blind fitted a but above the window)

I think it is probably a similar size to the window in pic 2, do you think that blind looks like it us the full drop if the window?

Thanks for the help, I haven't got a clue!

With that drop it won't be bulky and because it's outside the recess it won't cover much of the window.

One thing I will say is, stay away from stripes if you want the blind to be completely symmetrical, you'll be there forever trying to get the stripes to line up

why not just have a pelmet effort if the blind is never going to be down?

a short blind is going to look ridiculous, I also think that blinds looks silly outside windows, so I would not use one in your situation

I'll attach a pic of the window. Will it look rubbish if I fit the blind nearer to the ceiling than the height I currently have the swatch at? So the top of the blind would be 20cm higher than the window recess ?

thinking more about it, if you wanted less bulk then you make fewer folds, I think that'd be a much better idea than going short.

how much room do you have above the window?

Crankycunt, do you mean it'll be a nightmare getting the stripes to line up when the blind is up? I had wondered about that but on all the stripey blind pics I've seen they look ok.

I was unsure about having the blind outside the recess but having looked at lots of pics I do like it, and def can't have it in the recess as it would block far too much light.

crossposted!!

so, 115 drop, plus your 20 is 135, say 5 cm for the batten so 130, gives you two loops of 65, in half to 32.5

the bottom of the blind when pulled right up would be about 6 inches over the window but would reach the sill if required.

125/139 drop isn't going to be very bulky anyway. You can fit the blind higher than the window, but bear in mind that the fact you've done so might be easy to see and so might look a bit odd!

I'm inclined to agree with those who ask if you actually need a blind? Pelmets can be really nice, lots of different looks available. We've gone for this with our kitchen, makes it a feature without blocking too much light.

The max height above is 30cm, I have no idea how roman blinds are made re the folds. Maybe I need to get a local company out to quote. I don 't want to order online and get it wrong.

The blind will definitely never be fully down, possibly half down sometimes, though doubtful as we've had nothing up for 9 months and it hasn't bothered me. I just want to dress the window.

What sort of pelmet would work?

I'd say more like 50cm folds with a half one at the bottom - so length of blind when down would be closer to 25cm although I like the folds so rarely pull a roman to it's absolute minimum!

I second the pelmet idea. I forked out a fortune for Roman Blinds in my last house and only let them down once. They were very dusty.

The actual depth of the window is 97 cm, I'd put 110 to allow for it to be hung above the window recess and the width includes extra for either side.

I was hoping to not have the folds hanging down more than around 7cm/3" when the blinds up.

Can someone attach a pic of the kind of pelmet that would work? We have some original wooden pelmets in other rooms but they have blinds or curtains as well.

There's loads of styles of pelmets. Lots of people like a simple cushioned box type pelmet - something like the first one in the gallery on this link but you can also go for softer styles; we have a pole with an eyelet pelmet in a really bold fabric which works well.

OK, so if you have a 110 drop in total, say 3cm for the track at the top (most romans are on velcro faced tracks) leaves you 107cm in the blind. Personally if I was making that blind I'd do it with folds of just over 30cm - so when it was pulled up fully it would be roughly 5cm over the top of the window.

If you're ordering one you might want to specify the fold sizes. Most online companies use roman blind tape these days unless it's a very sheer fabric - so you would have a strip of velcro at the top of the blind which attaches it to the track, then a tape roughly 33cm from the top, then another roughly 63 down and another roughly 93 down. Then you have a half length bit at the bottom which has a baton/flat weight in it so the blind sits well. When you pull it up, the strips of tape get gather and the fabric in between folds so you end up with it being about 15cm deep, plus your top track of about 3cm.

I've had a look at some pics of pelmets, I suppose some of the fabric ones look a bit like the look I want with a roman blind.

I think I prefer the flexibility of actually being able to have a blind down if I wanted/needed to.

From the advice on here I think I need to either order full length or 2/3 so that if I want it half down there are still some folds? I think I'll get someone out to advise and quote then decide.

I have a roman blind outside and above the recess (about 25 cm above) and it is not bulky at all (full length blind). It folds up very neatly and leaves the window completely clear. You hardly see it when it is up (perhaps not the effect you're after; it's a plain neutral colour!)

It has a roller mechanism rather than string pulls which I think is better.

I would definitely go for a full length one - at least you have the choice of putting it down. Especially since the cost difference is not huge.

Thanks for the help Statistically. I don't suppose you've ever used Blinds2go? Thats where I've seen some blinds I like and it seems quite cheap, although I haven't actually had any local companies out to quote.

Thanks Yika, do you know what your window drop is? I like the way the linen blind I posted further up looks, that is pretty much what I'm hoping mine would look like.

funnily enough, I actually have! I make my own romans but I needed rollers for my livingroom (awkward windows which open in at the top so romans get in the way and needed privacy blinds) and they were absolutely fine.

I think you'd be looking at about the level of "bulk" seen in this one - except yours would have the folds more even rather than waterfall www.tailor-madehome.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/waterfall-roman-blind.jpg. More like this IYSWIM

Thanks, they both look fine and good to know Blinds2go are ok. They seem a lot cheaper in comparison to what I've paid local companies for supply and fitting of basic roller blinds in the past.

One last question! Are stripes a bad idea with roman blinds? I've seen some linen blinds with just a contrasting strip each side I quite like if stripes are a problem, I prefer the stripes though.

Thanks for all the help.