How to choose the right fabric for your blinds and curtains

Of all the choices in a window furnishing, fabric is the one you live with. It sets the light in the room, the privacy, the warmth and the whole feel of the space, far more than the style of blind or curtain does. Here's a simple way to think it through.

Start with light level

The first question is how much light you want, and when. Broadly, fabrics fall into four light levels:

• Sheer. Soft and translucent. Filters daylight beautifully and gives daytime privacy without darkness. The layer that makes a room feel calm and light.
• Light-filtering. A soft, glare-free glow with daytime privacy. The everyday choice for living rooms and kitchens.
• Sunscreen (screen fabric). Cuts glare and UV while keeping your view to the outside. Ideal where you don't want to lose an outlook.
• Blockout. Full darkness and complete privacy, day and night. The bedroom and media-room choice.

Most rooms are happiest with two layers: a sheer or light-filtering fabric for the day, and a blockout behind for night privacy and sleep.

Then think about lining (for curtains)

With curtains, the lining matters as much as the face fabric. It changes how the curtain hangs, how it blocks light, and how well it insulates:

• Unlined. Softest light, least insulation. Good for a sheer.
• Standard lining. Protects the fabric and adds body.
• Blockout lining. Darkens the room and adds an insulating layer.
• Thermal lining. The warmest option, for cold rooms that lose heat through the glass.

If warmth is a priority, and in much of the Central West it is, a lined or thermal-lined curtain is where the real difference is made.

Match the fabric to the room

The room itself narrows the choice quickly:

• Bedrooms. Blockout fabric or blockout-lined curtains for darkness and warmth.
• Living rooms. Layered sheers and blockout, or a sunscreen to keep a view.
• Kitchens, bathrooms & laundries. Wipe-clean fabrics, PVC vanes or aluminium slats that handle steam and splashes.
• Sun-hit windows. Sun-rated fabrics that hold their colour, especially on harsh west- and north-facing glass.
• Street-facing or noisy rooms. Heavier or acoustic fabrics to settle outside noise.

Don't forget durability and the sun

Not all fabrics wear the same. A west-facing window in the Central West sun, or a coastal window in salt air, is hard on cheap fabric. It fades and perishes. It's worth choosing a fabric rated for the conditions it'll face, so it still looks right in a few years. Decades of local windows have taught us which fabrics last and which don't.

Always see it in your own light

Here's the one rule that matters most. Never choose fabric from a screen or a showroom alone. A colour that looks warm under showroom lighting can read cold in a south-facing room, and a fabric that seems sheer in your hand can filter very differently against your own glass. See it in the room it's going in, at the time of day you use that room.

That's why we bring free fabric samples to every in-home measure, and post sample packs to your door. You can hold the real fabric up to your own window before you decide.

Book a free measure and quote and we'll bring the fabrics to you and help you choose, room by room. Call (02) 6332 2144 or order free samples online.