Wood of all types makes for excellent window blind material. Whether it is an elegant dark hardwood, natural woven bamboo, or a light filtering "green" grass material, wooden blinds offer a good deal of design flexibility and practical use in many rooms and homes. Natural materials can create a warm feel in any home and have more character than typical plastic window treatments.
Let's take a look at some of the options available to homeowners today for woven and wood blinds.
Woven Window Treatments
Not all natural or wooden shades come in slats or venetian style blinds. Many styles now incorporate woven materials such as bamboo, jute, reeds, and other grasses. This allows for many different styles to satisfy both design issues and offer new practical benefits.
Woven window treatments are excellent for filtering light. Ranging from opaque to translucent, woven treatments like Bali blinds can be used in any room no matter what the light requirements are. Blackout and privacy liners can also be added for use in a bedroom for a lazy Sunday morning. Waterfall designs, panel tracks, flat fold shades, and Roman styles are all utilized.
Woven materials are also made from renewable resources, such as bamboo. Bamboo, like many other grass materials, can be harvested from their plants without destroying the tree, creating a renewable resource without deforestation. The corresponding range of natural textures and colors fits in with any design style as well.
Overall, these materials are extremely versatile, offering many designs and patterns while providing excellent light filtering and money saving insulative properties.
Wooden Blinds
Wood is a great material for use in blinds in the place of plastic. Wood blinds have a warm, comfortable feel that is lost with plastics. The range of dark and light colors also fits well into either classic or contemporary looks. Staining and custom paints also open up a palette of colors that would normally not be available for wooden treatments. Wood slats come in both horizontal and vertical arrangements for windows and glass doors.
This material is another great choice for its practical benefits as well. Wood is an excellent insulator of both sound and heat for increased privacy and reduced energy costs. The thermal treatment of hardwood will also harden the slats to prevent warping, splitting, cracking, and the damage from the sun's rays.
Wooden cornices are also a great finishing touch for wood window treatments to create a unified look through a room. Matching colors and finishes to the rest of a home's furniture can complete the look.
There are also faux wood materials available that try to capture the essence of hardwood. While they make a good substitute for a very tight budget, the added value of real hardwood, both financial and emotional, is easily worth the extra effort.
Overall, wood and woven materials make for great window treatment choices. Designed for both their look and practicality, homeowners are steadily turning to these natural materials for their home decorating needs.
