Blinds - should they be inside or outside the recess?

[WerthersUnOriginal]

What looks nicest? I can't decide Maybe there's an unwritten rule I don't know about??

Just moved and I want a new one for kitchen window and another matching for the window in the dining area. All one big room with two windows iyswim.

They're usually fitted inside the recess a small distance from the window

BUT - not roller blinds. Now they're another kettle of fish altogether

Ah ok, thanks. Was thinking maybe Roman Blinds.

Roller blinds here atm. They were the ones that were already here. One is inside the recess and one outside - just to confuse me

Dh clearly can't manage roller blinds. He seems to go into Inspector Clouseau mode and ends up with 12' of blind that won't roll back up

I recently had roman blinds made for the kitchen (2 windows) but it's quite a dark room and the recesses are quite deep. With roman blinds, they are always part way down iyswim so they automatically block some of the light. I read an article which suggested that if you have a relatively dark room (yes) and quite deep recesses (yes) you should fit them outside the recess so that light gets through from the gap in between the blind and the window if that makes sense! So thats what I did!! However, personally speaking, I don't think they look as nice or as neat as blinds fitted inside the recess, that looks much better in my opinion. Sorry, quite a long answer just to say inside the recess (and perhaps ensure that the "tied up" length is only quite a short length).

Thank you Mandy. That all makes perfect sense.

I actually hadn't considered the possibility of a RB cutting out light because it's always partially down. You are quite right! I'll have to have a think about that. Thanks for your thoughts

Sorry to add to this!
Blinds generally look better inside the recess.
If you position Roman blinds outside the recess, for reasons of light or for inward-opening windows, then you have to accept that from the side view the batten and workings of the blind will be seen.
this has caused issues on here in the past.

The way to hide the workings if you have a blind outside the recess is to have a pelmet. A flat based pelmet can look v smart and gives it some more 'body' IYSWIM.

I always think inside the recess looks better, with a few exceptions.

If the window is very small for the size of the room, I would put it outside the recess - you can also add a bit of height to windows by putting it on the outside.

You can also have 2 types of folds - standard pleats (where they fold one on top of each other, uniformly), or cascaded pleat (where you can see the lower pleats below the ones above, IYSWIM - each pleat is progressively smaller as you go higher).

If you are worried about losing light, but still want to go for inside recess blinds, you can go for a standard pleat, and also go for a greater number of shallower pleats, as opposed to fewer, deeper ones (within reason).

As fresh says, if you go for outside recess, you can hide the workings with a pelmet, or you can also hide the batten by covering it in matching fabric, and making the blind ever so slightly longer, so that the top folds over and sits on the batten like a lid.

If you are getting blinds made, I strongly recommend that you go for a rotary chain system. It is so much smoother and easier, with no gaffing with cords and cleats.

faffing

Lots of good advice on here already. Go into the recess if you think you are likely to use the sill and want to be able to get at whatever is there when the blind is down - but bear in mind that you are forever fiddling about finding the cords behind it - unless you opt for the more expensive rotary mechanism as suggested. I am increasingly getting asked for this - i think it is a more 'functional' look but that is perfect in a kitchen. Go for a metal chain, looks better and only a couple of quid more.

Brilliant advice here and many points I hadn't considered. Thanks everyone!

My rule on this is that if you're having the blind and nothing else, then it goes outside the recess. But if you're having curtains and a blind, the blind goes inside the recess. This is based on absolutely nothing other than my personal preference so feel free to totally ignore me!

Stupid question but if you have the blind in the recess do you have to attach the blind the the window

^window frame not the actual glass^

Yes, either the window frame behind, or top fix it to the top of the recess if you want to have a bit of space between the blind and the window. It depends what system you are using - blind kit, batten etc.

If using a batten, I always use right angled brackets, which you can fix to the window frame behind, or either side of the window-frame and you set the batten on top. It means you can lift the batten off if you need to, say to say replace cords etc.

No - you can attach it to the wall at the top of the window - the bit that is at right angles to the window. I'm not describing this very well - there probably is a proper name for it. If the windowsill is at right angles to the bottom of the window, there should be a bit of wall at right angles to the top.

I'm thinking about wooden-slatted venetian blinds for our living room bay window. With curtains over the to. Inside the individual window recesses? Would like to but not sure we can because of pvc frames! Any suggestions?

This might help.