Which blinds are best for the living room?

Any blind type is suitable for a living room. To determine the best blind type for your own living room window, you need to think about the functionality you want the blind to have, as well as your budget.

Shop our recommended living room blinds

What are you looking for?

For maximum flexibility when it comes to light and privacy – for example, if your windows are facing a busy road – we recommend vertical, venetian, wooden or day and night blinds.

If you’re looking for the most affordable option and flexibility isn’t that important – for example, your windows are overlooking a garden or a backyard – roller blinds are a great option.

If you don’t mind spending more money to create a very cosy and sophisticated atmosphere in your living room, consider roman blinds, curtains and shutters. These are all window dressings with enhanced insulating, privacy and security properties.

What do you need to consider when choosing blinds for your living room?

So, what’s important to you when it comes to choosing a living room blind? Let’s look at a few factors that you might want your window dressing to have:

Improved privacy and security

A living room is a space in which you and your family probably spend the most time, so your blind needs to give you both privacy with a view during the day and total privacy in the evening. In this case, blackout vertical blinds or wooden blinds are perfect. Both blind types will let the light in without fully exposing your window during the daytime and give you maximum privacy in the evening and at night.

Vertical blinds are a cost-effective choice, whereas wooden blinds are an investment. Whichever you choose, you’re sure to see enhanced privacy by opting for these blinds, while also enjoying excellent light control.

All blinds reduce heat build-up in summer and heat loss in winter to some extent, helping to lower heating and cooling costs in your home. However, blinds made with solar control fabrics will reflect a higher percentage of solar radiation than others, reducing the amount of visible light and infrared thermal radiation that is transmitted through the blind into the room.

Choose solar control or blackout blinds like roller, vertical, Perfect Fit or roman blinds and curtains with thermal lining. Combining curtains with blinds is a great way to prevent heat loss.

Nowadays, the majority of blinds are designed to be both practical and look aesthetically pleasing. However, if creating a homely and beautiful interior as well as fulfilling all the points listed above is especially important, consider roman blinds, curtains or shutters. Soft fabric window dressings always look stunning, while shutters are an investment as, like a good piece of furniture, they last for a long time.

If you have large or hard-to-reach windows, consider smart electric roller blinds. These can be controlled using an electric remote or you can even use a device that will allow you to operate your blinds via an app on your smartphone.

The two main advantages of smart blinds are that you can operate your blinds at a touch of a button, and you can control them even when you’re away at work or on holiday, which is great for security.

What does the window look like?

Now that you know what to look for in your blinds, let’s look at the most popular living room window positions / scenarios and what blind type and fabric we recommend for each.

Bay window in a living room

Bay windows – also sometimes referred to as box or bow bay windows – are one of the most popular window types used for living rooms. This style of window lets lots of natural light into a room and gives you extended views of the outside of your home.

When it comes to buying blinds for bay windows, it’s important to remember that you are usually covering between three and four panes of glass, so you’ll need a blind for each.

If your bay window is facing the road, choose blind types that will give you flexible light and privacy control – for example, wooden blinds, blackout vertical blinds, or blackout day and night blinds. All of these blind types will let the light in during the day without fully exposing your windows, but will also give you privacy at night. Shutters are another practical and attractive option, however they are more expensive than blinds.

If your bay window is facing a quiet road or a garden, you don’t have to worry about privacy and can choose any blind type you like. If you love to make the most of natural light, choose roman or roller blinds. Both of these can be fully raised during the day, which will let maximum light in, and then completely closed at night for total light exclusion. Plus, they come in variety of patterns and fabric finishes, so you can choose the options that you like the most.

The best blind types: wooden blinds, perfect fit blinds, roller blinds, vertical blinds.

Facing the road

If your living room window is facing a busy road, choose blinds that will give you both daytime views and privacy during the day, and total privacy in the evening. The perfect blinds to do this are wooden, day and night, and vertical blinds or shutters. All four options will give you full control over the amount of light you let in and people won’t be able to look in once they’re fully closed. Electric roller blinds with a Smart Hub operation device are another great option.

Vertical blinds take up the most of your sill space compared to the rest of our recommended blinds, so if you like to have picture frames, plants or ornaments on your windowsill, choose wooden or roller blinds or shutters instead.

The best blind types: wooden blinds, day and night blinds, vertical blinds & shutters.

Large living room window

Large windows are a dream of so many homeowners. However, the bigger the window, the more material is needed to cover it, so this needs to be factored in when budgeting.

The cheapest and most suitable option for large windows would be vertical or panel blinds. Both options provide privacy and offer excellent light control options.

If you want to enhance the size of your windows and turn them into the centrepiece of your living room, choose curtains. Curtains can transform windows, plus you can combine these with any other blind type, for example, a roller, roman or wooden blind, for more flexible light and privacy.

Another great option is café-style shutters. These cover only the lower part of your window, giving you privacy, while leaving the top half open for light to get through. Shutters are more expensive than blinds or curtains, but they last at least a couple of decades if you care for them correctly.

Electric roller blinds are also a good option for large and hard-to-reach windows. You can control these using an electric remote control; connecting them to a Smart Hub device and your smartphone; or using a voice activation device, such as Alexa and Google Home.

Perfect Fit blinds are another option for large bay windows. These cover individual glass panes and you don’t have to screw or drill into your window frames to fit them.

The best blind types: vertical blinds, electric roller blinds, café style shutters, curtains combined with roman blinds.

Ground floor living room window

Privacy is key when it comes to any ground floor room, especially the ground floor living room since you’ll be spending most of your time there.

We recommend choosing blinds that will let light in without fully exposing your windows, for example wooden, venetian, blackout vertical, or blackout day and night blinds.

During the day, you can tilt horizontal/vertical louvres to let light in but still enjoy a degree of privacy, and at night completely close the blind, blocking out the light and the outside glare. Blackout fabric and lining are good in this case because even when your lights are on and it’s dark outside, people won’t be able to see in.

Shutters are also a great option because as well as offering flexible light control and increased privacy, they also give you a degree of security. Shutters are much more expensive than blinds, but will last for decades if cared for correctly.

The best blind types: shutters, wooden blinds, day & night blinds.

Layering blinds and curtains

We’ve arrived at a particularly creative part of this guide: window dressing layering. If there’s a space where you can go all-out with your blinds and curtains, it’s got to be in the living room.

Layered window dressings can be seen everywhere, from the images on Instagram and Pinterest to the pages of home interiors magazines, and there is a reason why combining blinds with curtains is considered good practice.

First, any blind will look sophisticated and complete when combined with curtains. Second, layering offers practical solutions. It gives your home increased heat retention and control over privacy and light. Curtains create a sense of luxury and a cosy feel to your living space like no other window dressing, while blinds do the functional bit. Plus, you can create a unique combination to suit your own personal style.

You can choose any combination you like. The most popular pairings are curtains teamed with wooden, roller or roman blinds, or curtains matched with shutters. Again, the last option will be more pricey.

Smart blinds for the living room

Would you believe that blinds can even reduce the chances of someone breaking into your home while you’re at work or away on holiday?

Using Smart Hub blinds, you can operate your electric roller blinds via the app using your smartphone. As well as requiring minimum effort, creating a smart home, and making it totally child and pet-safe, you also get peace of mind because you can operate your blinds while being at work or even on holiday in another country. This means you can create the impression that someone is at home.

You can also connect your Smart Hub blinds to voice activation devices including Alexa and Google Home and control them using your voice. View Smart Hub Information.

Top three recommended window dressing options for a living room:

• Wooden blinds
• Curtains combined with roman blinds or any other blind type
• Window shutters

Blind types you don’t want in your living room

There isn’t a blind or fabric that wouldn’t be suitable for a living room window, however, consider your window size and position to ensure your blind offers the best functionality possible.
 
We hope you found this article useful and it has helped you decide on the blind type and fabric you want for your living room window.

When it comes to choosing the colour and pattern for your living room blind, there are masses of options to choose from. We offer free samples for all our blinds, curtains and shutters, so you can see and feel the fabric before committing to buying.