Intu or Perfect Fit blinds?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I'm looking for a solution for a uPvc door and windows. The curtains we have now are getting old and are annoying.

I'm stuck in Decision Land at present, trying to select which ones to buy, or if there is another solution. Factors are: I'm concerned that the Perfect Fit blinds will cut down quite a lot of visible window and I read that they can be dust collectors around the frame. But I can't quite get my head around the Intu blinds and what you can see down the side of the window and at the bottom of them.

Im also wondering how far they roll or pleat upwards? When they are up, will half the window still be covered by blind?

In the day time winter, I want as much window as possible available for the light. But in the summer heatwaves and at night, I want as good a block as possible.

Thanks for any advice!

@OhYouBadBadKitten buy Perfect Fit

We had Perfect Fit roller blinds, loved them, then had new UPVC windows and doors put in and sadly the new Perfect Fit blinds we would have ordered wouldn't do such a narrow window pane with the drop needed for the French doors, which are part of a bay window so all the blinds have to match.

We now have the Intu roller blinds and they look half finished. Perfect fit have an entire frame that clips in whereas Intu don't they only have side channels.

The header of the Intu blinds do not line up with the side channels so the blind is wider at the top and just looks untidy.

Plus Intu blinds have a visible clip at the top of the blind just below the header part that houses the roller blind. I am saying I would choose Perfect fit. I will link the different headers for both Perfect Fit and Intu so you can see the difference.

www.blindsdirect.co.uk/product/touched-by-design-absolute-light-grey-roller-blind-perfect-fit shows the frame with header all lined up, scroll one picture to the right to see the enclosed header, plus the other photos show the complete frame

www.knightshades.co.uk/intu-blinds scroll down to the row of 3 blinds, you can see the left one shows the side channels just finish at the bottom and the right hand picture shows the stupid clips on the header and if you look carefully you can see where the side channels are and they don't line up with the header.

Thank you so much @TreacleMcDoo ! Thats exactly the sort of advice that I was hoping for. You've made up my mind for me. I'd best get measuring!

Honest answer, get them professionally measured and fitted. I work in interiors and have seen some serious horror stories when looking at ones that clients have measured themselves!

Intu blinds are just as aesthetically pleasing as perfect fit when they're measured and fitted properly.

I'll put down my tape measure.
Isn't that a lot more expensive @Badger1970 ?

Which would you choose out of the two?

We measured and fitted our own.

@Badger1970 I disagree that they look the same. The top section being offset on the Intu blinds is awful to look at when Perfect Fit frames lines up. Also the bottom, very clear on the photos I linked shows the side channels just end and then the bottom bar can't line up. Whereas the Perfect fit ones tuck neatly into the full frame.

I am literally looking at mine right now. It was the only option we could do as PF didn't do the narrow width and drop, because their spring wasn't strong enough. We emailed them over it as clearly Intu have the bloody spring that does work for it. Maybe I am just picky.

I have perfect fit in all of our bedrooms. They do look really nice and a good solution for us as we don't have a window recess, they're flush to the walls. We had them professionally measured and installed.

But the mechanism isn't right on some of them and they don't quite close all the way to the bottom anymore and have a few mm gap when closed, which is pretty annoying. I think there's a way to reset them and I really need to get on YouTube and work that out but I'm scared to break them further.

In terms of dust, they do gather a little bit of dust in the frame but a quick wipe sorts that out easily.

I think it depends on the manufacturer to be truthful. And if you go for the top down/bottom up types, you can avoid header bars completely.

Thank you!

I haven't heard of Intu but we do have Perfect Fit blinds on upvc doors - double patio doors and kitchen door - and are really happy with them. And we were stuck in Decision Land for years! Ours are white wood effect Venetian in one room and white metal Venetian in the other.

They don't cut out a lot of light at all (I'm very fussy about that hence the many years in Decision Land) and it's great being able to angle them on very sunny days. We don't often raise them up to fully clear the window but when we do I'd say there's no more than a 30cm chunk of blind at the top. Definitely don't obscure the whole window. They are a bit more fiddly to clean but it's not a major deal (I am moderately slatternly though). We had ours measured and fitted professionally to because I didn't trust myself not to cock it up 😂

Thanks @BoggisandBunceandBean thats really helpful!

We’ve got Perfect Fit Venetian Blinds in the lounge, on the front windows and patio doors, and in the hallways. When we’ve finished re-jigging the kitchen/dining room and bathrooms we’re getting them for in there too.

They really don’t cut out a lot of light and are easy to move up and down to clean the windows. We measured them ourselves, well DH did. He was very meticulous and double checked about a million times, but they do fit perfectly.

I love ours, I’d never go back to normal blinds that blow about when the window is open.

My guestimate for how much blind is left at the top was way over! I've just raised and measured and there's a 5cm chunk of blind at the top of the metal blinds and 23cm on the wood effect (because the slats are obvs thicker) Also agree with @TheFairyCaravan that it's great to open the doors in summer and not have blinds flapping around.

I'm going to bite the bullet and go for them! I'll let you know how I get on.
I think if both dh and I measure them separately, we should be ok.

Any recommendations of where to buy them or not buy them from please?

Yay! I hope you like them. We bought ours from a local independent curtains and blinds place who we'd used previously and also we know the owners a bit so felt we could trust them. They came and measured and then did the full fitting. We got a small discount because we were having pretty much the whole house fitted for various different blinds (after years of dithering about it) but it was still a more expensive option than buying online.

We got ours from Blinds2Go

Thanks!

We got Perfect Fit honeycomb (love them!) from newblinds.co.uk which was the cheapest we could find them. Measured ourselves with no problems.

They usually have coupon codes available for between 10-20% off

Thanks!!

Our Perfect Fit blinds arrived. They were so easy to install and fit perfectly. I'm happily surprised at how good they look. I'll probably buy some more now that I know they work well. Thanks for all the advice!

Great update @OhYouBadBadKitten. Glad you like them!

Are they blackout? I want blackouts ones for my patio door after the last summer heat!

I went for venetian in the end, which aren't very blackout because the light can get through the little holes. It was in an area I decided I didn't want to pull them up and down all the time. But the ones facing full sun I will now get blackout.