Blinds or shutters

[LilyRose88]

I have recently bought a 1930s house and currently have the awful cheap brown wooden blinds in the front windows of the house that were left by the previous owners. The windows are bog standard UPVC double glazed units with a square bay window downstairs and a flat window upstairs. I am toying with the idea of either getting white wooden blinds or plantation shutters to replace the current blinds.

I would love recommendations for companies for both options, and comments on whether one option would be better than the other. I previously lived in a Victorian house, and I think that shutters do look better in an older period house. My current house is very bland outside - you wouldn't decribe it as an attractive 1930s house, and I do wonder whether the shutters would look silly. But it is a look that I love. And it could improve the kerb appeal.....

Does anyone have any hints and tips, and companies to avoid as well as recommendations. I have just requested a quote from Shutterly Fabulous. Thanks.

We've just booked blinds for the whole house from Hillary blinds and we're paying just over £1000. Shutters were much more expensive, £350 per sq metre so £1500 for just two windows! Crazy money.

I've got Victorian sashes and just had shutters put into the downstairs bay but not upstairs. I've put a ready made blind there as its small enough. I think they look nice in 30s houses too, in fact I was saving up to get some in my previous 30s house. To be honest if you are thinking of Roman blinds on a bay they will probably have to be made to measure and that is really expensive anyway. I had my downstairs bay done in white mdf (which I honestly think looks as good as wood) and it was £880 (full height tier on tier). Don't know whereabouts you are but that was Riverside Shutters who are based in Richmond/Twickenham.

Thanks for your replies. I am based in West Sussex if that helps. Did Hillary Blinds fit the blinds, or did you have to fit them yourself? I did wonder about having shutters in the bay downstairs and blinds upstairs as that might work.

I think shutters look fabulous. I too have a 1930s semi and have just ordered care style for a 5 sided bay. I am only having them 3/4 of the way up as we have stained glass in the top panels which i don't want to cover up. Ive paid £744 with fitting but they are MDF like smelltheglove. Only downside is a 10 week wait!

I have used 274 blinds twice now and they have both been great. You have to measure them yourself but i got a small blind(about 3 ft) for my second bedroom, and a big 6ft venitian blind for my bedroom.

They do different types of blinds like vertical and roman. But if you doing it for the first time make sure you pay extra for the measurement guard! It only 10% of the blinds but it means that you do the measurement wrong you can get them to redo the blind for free.

They do take about 1-2 week though and they don't send you a email to say when they have been displatched.

I bought 2 white vision/zebra blinds from Blinds2Go - had to measure myself but they had advice on how to do that and what allowances to leave and we had to put them up ourselves (needed 2 people) but they were a fraction of the price of the same thing in John Lewis and look great.

They are like a double roller blind with alternating clear and opaque panels but can be pulled up and down like a regular roller blind.

Not particularly easy to put up but solid once up and we saved over £500 !!!!