Window coverings for your rental property can be important in attracting tenants, so what are the best blinds, shades or curtains among three basic types of window coverings.
It can be difficult to choose the best type of window covering to complement a space while being easy to maintain and practical for tenants with the new technologies, décor styles and trendy materials always changing things up.
Here are the more common kinds of window coverings that are available for your windows, while including their individual pro’s and con’s to help you pick the one that works best for your budget and your rental property.
Blinds consist of either horizontal or vertical slats that can be adjusted with cords or handles to allow for varied amounts of visibility and luminosity. Blinds can be easily custom-fitted, cleaned off and are treated so that that won’t fade over time as great window coverings in your rental property.
Materials
Plastic – This is the most common kind of material used to craft blinds, which is largely due to the fact that it is the cheapest and easiest to replace. These kinds of blinds come in many colors and sizes, but are nowhere near as durable and sturdy as ones made with wood or metal, which makes it easy for them to become damaged (snap, fall of or bend) and require frequent replacements over time.
Metal – Metal blinds are resistant to moisture and overall much more durable than their plastic counterpart. Those made with smaller gauges are thicker and thus the most durable. While they come in many different finishes and can be used in any space, some find them to be particularly noisy, which is a major downside that comes with this material.
Wood – Wood blinds offer a uniquely polished and refined look, and have a naturally heavier weight that gives them a sturdy quality. While some find this to be a desired characteristic, wood blinds might not be an ideal choice for those wanting a more modern look or a solution that is practical and easy to maintain. Wood blinds are much pricier than metal or plastic blinds, and repairs are costly. They also are not a good option for kitchen and bathrooms as the wood can become easily damaged – rotten, cracked, warped – when exposed to moisture.
Faux Wood – Blinds made with faux wood slats are the solution for those who like the look of wood blinds but have lower budgets and want less maintenance concerns. They are made of synthetic materials that are engineered to resemble wood, which makes them perfectly resistant to moisture and affordable.
Unlike blinds, shades consist of one single, unified layer of material that can be pulled down or up to cover windows and doors uniformly. Shades are crafted to stretch and roll down or fold up into themselves.
Roman – roman shades are a cross between a curtain and a Venetian blind. They are crafted so that a piece of cloth can be raised and lowered as it folds into itself. Roman blinds can be made from many different kinds of cloth, including special thermal or UV-filtering cloth. The main downsides to Roman shades is that even when they are completely “rolled up”, the bundled cloth folds in a way that covers the top of the window, reducing visibility and light.
Roller – Roller shades are similar to Roman shades as they are made up of fabric that can be pulled up or down, but they do so without folding. A special mechanism allows the fabric to be stretched across the window or door it covers without folding. Many options and customizations are available for roller shades, with higher-tech materials (thermal and such) and elaborate mounts to match any style. Cheaper kinds of roller shades can develop problems as mechanisms can become jammed. The fabric covering can also easily require a complete replacement after becoming stained or faded from sunlight exposure, which is typically costly.
Curtains are made by hanging large pieces of cloth on a wall-fixed rod or track, which then allows for the cloth to be sled over or away from the window.
When it comes to most kinds of home decor and accents, it’s usually the norm for there to be hundreds of options and designs, which can make it quite overwhelming and kind of unpleasant to have to sit down and “just pick one”.
Our professionals have indeed noticed a quite common trend: homeowners and property managers often anticipate just how time consuming it can be to get stuck with evaluating hundreds of different options for their homes, and ultimately end up opting for “too good to be true” or “spur of the moment” updates that don’t typically turn out to be the best match for their expectations. Hopefully these useful tips will save you some time and money.
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