Before we go deep into this article is important to distinguish the two types of cheap blinds. In my mind there is a strong divide between ‘cheap blinds’ and what I like to call ‘discounted blinds’. Cheap blinds are blinds made purely with cost in mind, they use cheap materials and are mass produced, whereas discount blinds are the high quality blinds you can buy from reputable suppliers such as Hillary’s when they have sales on and so on.
Unfortunately in the blinds industry their isn’t really any definitive brand products you can rely on, such as Dyson in the vacuum cleaner industry. So it is vital that you choose your supplier wisely.
That being said lets look at the two types and what you can expect from each type.
Cheap Roller Blinds
Cheap roller blinds are the ones you see on the 3 for £99 fliers and so on, the companies selling them are often sole traders or ‘one man bands’. Some of these guys are great, but unfortunately they don’t have the facilities like the big companies do to stock vast amounts of products.
Size Restrictions
Unfortunately one of the draw backs of cheap roller blinds is the size restrictions, some will offer upto 100cm x 100cm and some may go as far as 150cm x 150cm.
Colour Restrictions
Chances are you will have a choice of colours, but it will be very limited, around 5 colours is usually the maximum. Some companies will only offer you the choice of white or cream as they are the most popular colours.
Fabric Type Restrictions
Blackout and Light reflective fabrics are completely out the question as they are an additional cost. The standard fabric is a dim-out fabric.
Discounted Roller Blinds
Surprisingly some discounted roller blinds offer very competitive prices against the ‘cheap’ blinds. Obviously there are still some restrictions, but they aren’t as tight as the bigger companies can offer higher quality products for less due to them receiving quantity discounts from component and fabric suppliers.
Size Restrictions
Bare in mind you have to fit these yourself, but on certain online retailers website you can purchase three roller blinds for £99 with sizes up to 200cm x 190cm which is fantastic as it would fit most windows.
Colour Restrictions
Using the above retailer as an example again they have have 8 colours available, some fabrics with patterns on included, which is amazing for such a low price.
Fabric Type Restrictions
Similar to the cheap blinds, even online fabrics with additional features such as blackout come at an additional cost, I presume this is because they are extremely popular and it would be foolish to put them in the lowest price band.
Conclusion
Nowadays it seems there is a bargain everywhere you turn, and there can be. Just make sure the blinds meet your requirements and you won’t be left wishing you shopped around some more. There is nothing worse than feeling like you got an inferior product.
Tags: cheap roller blinds