Posts Tagged Blinds

If you are considering installing blinds in your home, at some point you will have to take the measurements. This can appear to be quite a daunting task, especially if you have never done this before. The truth of the matter is that it’s quite easy and there are a couple of tricks to ensure that your blinds are a perfect and professional fit.

There are two ways of taking the measurements depending upon where you would like the blind to sit or how you want the window to be covered, we refer to them as ‘Recess Fitting’ and ‘Exact Fitting’.

Firstly we will look at a blind to sit within a recessed window:-

As you can see here, the window is set into the wall, this is what is referred to as a recessed window. Because the sides of the recess have been plastered, it’s highly likely that the area isn’t quite square. For this reason, the measurements should be taken in a number of places. The width should be measured at the top of the recess, in the middle of the recess and again at the bottom of the recess. It’s the smallest of the three that we will need. The same procedure should be done when measuring the drop, measure this on the left hand side of the recess, in the middle and again on the right hand side. Again, it’s the smallest of the three that we need. The reason why we’re looking for the smallest measurement for both dimensions is so that the blind can be made without a risk of it catching or scraping the recess when it’s operated. Do not make any deductions from the measurements that you have taken, this is something we will do automatically when we come to make the blind.

‘Exact Fitting’; Ordering a blind at a specific size:-

This means of taking measurements has a number of uses as what you are supplying is the actual size that you need the blind to be. This could be a window that sits flush to the wall (i.e. a Victorian sash window or a conservatory window) or it could just be that you do not the blind to sit inside the recess.  The thing to remember with this type of measuring is that you will need to account for the brackets and headrail. There are a couple of instances where this can make a big difference:

1) Roller Blinds – The brackets for a roller blind sit at either end of the pole by 35mm overall (approximately) and therefore  the width of the fabric is smaller than the width of the blind. If you need a specific width of fabric for your roller blind, measure the width of the area that you want the fabric to cover and then add 35mm to allow for the brackets. This will give you the exact width that you would need to order.

2) Vertical Blinds – The width can be whatever you need but the drop should begin 50mm above the window area and stop 10mm above the window sill or floor. The last thing you want is a vertical blind that touches the surface at the bottom of the fabric, the blind simply doesn’t hang straight.

All other types of blind are straight forward, it’s typical to have the blind overlap the window area by 50mm on each side and at the top and come down to the window sill. However this is only typical and not a hard and fast rule. If you want a bigger blind or a smaller blind it’s absolutely fine, just make sure to allow for the brackets to fit above the window and this is normally 50mm, the exceptions being aluminium venetian blinds and roman blinds where the allowance for the brackets can be as small as 30mm if needed.

Hopefully this makes sense to you, remember that we are always available to advise you on more unusual windows or applications, just call our office or send us an email and we’ll help you as much as possible to ensure you order blinds that are perfect for your home.