Blinds and Curtains: How to Pair and Pick the Right Styles

Kitchen and dining room design

Blinds and curtains create a versatile pairing for any window in the house. But with all the different options for blinds and curtains, it can be overwhelming to know exactly where to start for your window treatments in St. Petersburg FL. Here are some tips for picking the perfect combination of blinds and curtains for every room.

1. Lighter in the Back

First rule of pairing curtains with blinds: remember to keep your depth perception intact. Darker colors tend to pop out more while lighter colors seem to fade and recede. If you have lighter walls in a room, this is especially true. While most blinds are light colors, you can find darker models for rooms that are going to exclusively use blinds. If you’re pairing blinds with curtains, it will look odd—in most cases—to have dark blinds and lighter curtains on top. The blinds will pop out from behind the curtains in an odd way.

You can intentionally subvert this trend if you really need to prove a point, but for the most part, you’ll need curtains that are darker than your blinds. So if you go with gray or cream blinds, you’re usually committing to curtains that are darker than that.

2. Keep Things Functional

Some rooms have blinds and curtains that will never change position. The blinds will be up or slanted gently, and the curtains will be gracefully tossed open. But in other rooms, you spend a lot of time when the sun is in different places. You’ll be moving the blinds and curtains around consistently, trying to perfect the privacy and natural light of the room.

If you are buying curtains and blinds for a space that requires functionality, you don’t want to be pulling the blinds cords and sticks out from under a mountain of fabric. Keep the curtains further away from the wall, and buy blinds that have simple functionality.

3. Pair Texture Without Matching

If you have one piece without texture entirely, the other piece can have texture. If you have one piece with a bold paisley pattern, you may want to keep the other piece simple. 

Most blinds don’t have intense textures, let alone patterns. But if you get a woven wooden blind or a roman shade that has some color to it, you’ll need to pair the textures with your curtains. You don’t want to match the patterns, but you need to make sure that they flow pretty well. As a general rule of thumb, if your blinds have a texture you should avoid using a strong pattern on the curtains. Block colors on the outside that are darker than the pattern of the blinds will pair nicely. On the other hand, if your curtains have a pattern or vibrant color scheme, keep the blinds simple with a block color.

4. Choosing a Level of Privacy

Some blinds provide a ton of privacy, while other kinds of blinds do not. If you have blinds in the back of the house you may not be that concerned with pairing them with curtains that block out visibility. But blinds in the front of the house should be paired with bolder blockout curtains that can be drawn. 

5. Allowing the Right Amount of Natural Light

In addition to privacy, you’ll be dealing with lighting. Different rooms call for different levels of light blocking and visibility. If you select a blind that doesn’t block natural light, but instead scatters it, you can pair it nicely with a lighter colored curtain. Dark curtains paired with blinds which allow a lot of natural light can be lit up in odd ways and create a weird contrast. But if you have blinds that don’t allow a lot of natural light, you can choose blackout curtains and thicker fabrics which play with the gentler light in a much softer way.

For maximum light, choose open blinds or sheer shades that glow when hit with sunlight. Lighter curtain fabrics and softer colors will also allow more light to bounce around. Alternatively, you can pair wood or metal blinds with darker, blackout curtains to reduce light altogether.

6. Choose Your Blinds First

Blinds are the more simple piece in the construction, and settling on a blind design that fits your window and allows for the optimal natural light is the easiest first step. You can try to pick blinds and curtains simultaneously, but the combinations can quickly get overwhelming. It’s best to settle on the blinds first and then pick the curtains.

7. Buy Bigger Curtains

Combinations of blinds and curtains can look awkward. But most poor designs result from curtains which are not big enough to adequately cover the blinds and the window. Bigger, looser curtains which fall more generously around the blinds will help offset the contrast of rigid blinds and soft fabric. Tiny curtains look cheap and weird from the inside!

Traditionally, curtains just need to be placed about an inch or two above the top of the window. But if you have bold blinds, it will make the window pop out more than usual. So extending the blinds even more makes the window recede in the design which will blend the two decorations.

8. Professional Design Help

If you keep the first 7 principles in mind when you shop for blinds, you should have no trouble getting a great combination. But all of those rules can be broken with amazing, finished design looks! If you hire professional design help you can remix the classic blinds and curtains combination to dazzling, startling effects.

Professional design help can help you pair textures and patterns in cool ways that you never would have (or should have!) had the confidence to do on your own. Getting professional design help can be the best way to pick the right style and end with a timeless pairing.

Contact Us or Stop By Our Downtown St. Petersburg FL Showroom For a Demo.

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