make the most informed choice - shutters blinds

If you have come far enough to be deciding between shutters and blinds, we are pleased that you have left behind any thoughts of curtains and other window coverings!

We'll be covering this design and style choice in a number of articles and stories. You can start off here but try and read our in-depth reviews as well.

1. Budget and design choice for shutters or blinds

There is a lot to say between the two - shutters and blinds. On the whole you will be paying more for shutters, particularly if you source high quality wooden plantation shutters rather than cheaper MDF shutters. The quality of finish will vary between shutter company products, however on the whole you will want to find shutters which are very durable and solid which is often the case as they are fixed either directly to your window frame or the walls surrounding depending on how your room allows the shutter installation.

Blinds will as said tend to be cheaper. You could expect to pay a lot less for really cheap blinds, but for the purposes of comparison here we'll assume you want something of quality!

One thing is for sure. There are many more blinds companies to choose from than shutters companies. There are a host of ranges available from most of the big blinds manufacturers out there and they will be available as Venetian blinds, wooden blinds, vertical blinds, roman blinds and so many more!

You will have fabric choices and wood choices. Whilst many companies supply excellent quality blinds, on the whole they will not be as durable as shutters as there will be more movement in a blind and its mechanism for raising or lowering. Like anything which moves a lot there will be the chance of more wear and tear. That said you will still be able to find blinds at a very reasonable cost which should last for years to come. As there are so many examples of blinds please read our blinds section on more specific pricing - however you could expect to pay from £30 - £120 per square meter for wooden blinds, and anything from £10 upwards for various other blinds.

If you want your property to really stand out with superb quality window coverings, stylish and contemporary shutters are still a rarer site at this stage. Blinds can create beautiful clean lines in any interior, but with so many blinds available from the huge super stores off the shelf, make sure you look carefully if you want a really stylish product.

We definitely recommend reading through our specific shutter pages and blinds pages so you can make the right informed decision about whether to choose between shutters or blinds!

feel free to email us any images you have of your property and we will try to best advise which is the most stylish and affordable solution for your home when renovating or updating your window coverings.

You may want to be purely price lead in which case you could assume that shutters cost between around £60 and £120 per square meter for self installation or DIY shutters. Clearly the variation in cost will denote the quality of shutters.

If you are after a full installation service the shutter company will have more overheads, they will need to be paying for the sales person who visits your home and measures your property. Their travel, possibly a showroom and of course the (hopefully) well trained staff who come to install your shutters for you. Expect to pay in the region of £150 - £200 per square meter for taking this route for shutters.

Don't forget the lead time for bespoke measured shutters can be up to two months, so try to plan ahead and you might stick on some cheap blinds while you are waiting!