Curtains and Blinds can work together if you fix the blind to the inside of the recess, then fix the curtain rail to the wall face above the window, which is pretty easy to accomplish with made to measure blinds. Admittedly this is a more expensive option that just blinds or curtains, but it offers a unique appearance which you will not see very often.

Currently in my living room I have a leather roman blind and curtains covering my largest window. An extra benefit of this which I didn’t anticipate is that when the curtains are open and the blinds are folded at the top of the window, the folded leather blocks out the direct view of the sun which is a great bonus as nobody enjoys being dazzled.

If blinds on their own don’t offer you enough control of the light, then curtains can offer you that extra option. For example you could use a dim-out or light diffusing fabric on your blind for when you want to allow light into the room, and use a blackout curtain over the top of that for when you want to completely block out the light.

To help further understand the benefits of using both products in conjunction with each other I am going to highlight the individual benefits so you can understand all the features you receive when you use both products together.

Curtains are a much simpler product than blinds, they only consist of the actual curtain, the pole which is it hung on and a few wall brackets to fix the pole to the wall. This makes curtains a much more reliable and maintenance free product than blinds. Although more complex curtain products are available such as motorised curtains.

Blinds are a lot more popular than curtains in commercial buildings such as offices as they offer a professional look rather than the warm cosy look that curtains offer. Some types such as venetian blinds and vertical blinds offer superior light control over curtains as you can tilt or turn the slats to whatever position suits you, this allows you to control how the light is reflected.

Now you have heard the independent benefits of each products I’m sure you can imagine just how powerful solution they can be when used together.

Fabrics

The range of pleated blinds is absolutely huge. Want an orange pleated blind? No problem. Want a pink pleated blind? No problem either. No matter what your colour preference there should be a fabric to suit.

Fabric Types

Depending on which room you are installing blinds you may have a different fabric requirement, such as a blackout fabric in a loft bedroom or a dimout dimout in a living room. Luckily all these types are available in a pleated fabric, as well as others such as opaque and semi-opaque materials.

Sizes

In terms of pleat sizes the standard options are 20mm and 25mm. 25mm is the classic approach whereas 20mm is a more modern up to date contemporary look.

In terms of height and width it all depends on the supplier but you should expect the maximum to be around 2 meters wide by 3 meters drop.

Price

Due to their simple special fabrics pleated blinds are not the cheapest of blinds, verticals and roller blinds can easily be purchased cheap, but in the right situation pleated blinds are definitely worth the extra investment.

Shapes

One of the main advantages of pleated blinds is that they can be cut into all sorts of shapes and sizes. The main two applications of this feature is the use of pleated blinds in conservatories and the use of pleated blinds to create artistic window coverings.

Pleated Blinds in the Conservatory?

Yes, pleated conservatory blinds are very popular, not only because of the versatility of pleated blinds, but also the special treatment the pleated fabric undergoes.

The treatment used on pleated blinds gives them the ability to reflect light better than the average blind fabric, this makes them great for conservatories as they suffer quite badly to the effects of solar glare. The effects of solar glare include damaging effects to items inside your conservatory and also excessive heat which renders the conservatory useless.

Pleated Blinds and Curtains Together?

If you are looking for a cheap window covering option then this is not for you, if you are looking for something stylish and unique to set you apart from the crowd then this could be it. Out of all the house I have been to I have only ever seen this done once, but it looked amazing! Basically the curtains go over the blinds to offer the ultimate in light control. If you want to diffuse the light you can use the blind, then if that is not enough you can use the curtains.