When you are looking for coverings for the windows in your home, and you like all of the different materials that window blinds have to offer, you will likely wonder whether vertical or horizontal blinds are your best bet. Taking a few things into consideration before making your purchase can help you to make the best choices possible, and remember, you don’t need all your blinds to be oriented in the same manner in your home or even in one room.
The Window Size
Vertical window blinds work best for large windows, and horizontal blinds look best for smaller windows. Vertical blinds cover a wide area on a center track at the top and bottom of the window to give you a clean and consistent appearance. When you open vertical blinds fully, they open side to side, and the blinds will take up space with the vertical slats on one side of the window. In a narrow window, this doesn’t work as well.
Horizontal blinds on a smaller window allow you to expose the fullest part of the glass except for the stack at the top of the windows when your blinds are lifted up. It will maximize your window surface, which is already narrow. So vertical for large windows and horizontal for small windows works best and are more aesthetically pleasing.
Sunlight and Privacy Considerations
Your next consideration is whether you are more concerned with sunlight in this particular window, or door, or privacy. Vertical blinds block sunlight best over horizontal blinds because they overlap each other slightly with the vanes. They can be mounted to cover the entire window or even a few inches wider on the sides so that you don’t get sunlight peaking through the sides.
Horizontal blinds allow more sunlight in your indoor spaces while maintaining your privacy. You can tilt the vanes or slats to allow some filtered light inside, and when it’s at the right angle, people on the street cant’s see in but you get light at higher angles at the same time.
Maintenance and Cleaning
Your cleaning considerations between the two different styles of vertical and horizontal blinds are different as well. Vertical blinds have wider and larger slats or vanes to make them easier to clean, and the great part is that they don’t catch dust and debris as quickly as horizontal blinds do.
If you have a slat that becomes broken on vertical blinds after being opened and closed for many years, you can replace only one slat since each one is mounted by itself onto the top track. This is a great benefit of vertical blinds. Horizontal blinds will fail after several years if the cord holding them together becomes damaged, but you can order custom window treatments in a cordless design to forego these repairs.
The Right Fit
For a double sliding glass door, you want to choose vertical blinds because they will slide to the side and allow you full usage of the door without interfering with opening and closing it. If your window is more narrow and small, then horizontal blinds will provide a much neater fit in this window.
Space Requirements
Determine if you have enough space for vertical blinds. They have bigger slats or vanes that take up more space than horizontal blinds in a window. They glide open and closed along the floor or the bottom of a windowsill, and they can’t have their path obstructed by anything. So if you like to place decorative items or plants in pots on your windowsill, you should choose horizontal blinds. Vertical blinds do make your entire room appear to be taller in any space.
Light Flow
Vertical blinds, when opened all the way, give you better views outside with more window space, and horizontal blinds stack at the top of the window when fully opened to block part of your view. Horizontal blinds can be situated to be room darkening, light filtering, or can be opened to flood your home with natural sunlight. Horizontal blinds work best in windows that get a lot of sunlight by facing the east or west side of your home.
Other Functions
Horizontal blinds are the most functional choice to add noise dampening, insulation, block heat gain, and sun and room darkening qualities. Horizontal blinds give you the best energy efficiency in your living room windows. Vertical blinds give you fewer choices in these types of functions.
We Can Help You Find the Perfect Window Blinds
At Clear Fortress Window Solutions, our experienced staff members can help you to choose the perfect blinds for your home. We offer a FREE in-home consultation with one of our professional designers to show you all the many options you have in modern custom window treatments. Faux wood for both applications is quite popular in the area.
We will then fabricate your items and return to professionally install them for you to reduce any anxiety you may have about your new window coverings. We offer the largest selection of types of blinds in both vertical and horizontal blinds in Michigan for all of your needs. Contact us today to schedule your consultation and see what we can create together!