Do you love the scorching summer heat? Do you love listening to the rain in the winter season? Well, as much as you love it, you don’t want to be exposed to the elements as you enjoy your outdoor living area. When looking for outdoor blinds, you need to consider the climate in your area. Here’s a list of things to consider when looking for outdoor blinds for your home.

1. The Purpose

What’s the purpose of the outdoor blinds in the first place? Before buying new outdoor blinds, you need to answer this question honestly. Are you looking for blinds to protect your outdoor furniture? Do you want to use the outdoor area as an extra living space? Do you want to increase privacy in your backyard? Identifying the purpose of the blinds is the first step when you are looking to add new outdoor blinds. Aaron from designoutdoorblindssydney.com.au says that the most common purpose in Australia is to block out the harsh afternoon sun.

2. The Climate

If you want to use your outdoor space all-year-round, you need to consider the impact of weather elements on the area. For instance, during the hot summer months, you need proper protection against the harsh sun rays and glare.

In the cooler or coldest months, you need proper shelter from the wind and rain as you enjoy your outdoor space. Rather than compromising when choosing outdoor blinds for each season, you can choose the best blinds to cater to all seasons effortlessly.

3. Ease Of Operation

In the cooler months, you might want to open up the outdoor blinds to enjoy the natural light and warmth from the sun. If you want to spend more time outdoors after the night sets in, you will want to close the binds for the best protection. As such, you should consider retractable or permanent outdoor blind options and how easy they are to operate.

Working with ropes and pulleys manually can be frustrating to everyone, especially when there is sudden bad weather. Fortunately, most of the zip track window blinds, awnings and alfresco shades are motorized. As such, your outdoor blinds will retract and extend with the touch of a button.

4. Type Of Fabric

The type of fabric you choose for outdoor blinds depends on the local climate conditions. For instance, PVC outdoor blinds will guarantee protection from rain and wind. Even better, you can still enjoy a view of your backyard as you allow natural light to get into your outdoor space. However, one disadvantage is that closing your blinds on a warm and windy day in summer will make the outdoor area extremely hot.

Well, that’s where mesh blinds come in handy. It’s a versatile fabric that offers the best options. Mesh comes in different grades allowing you to block the sun in the hot summer months as well as blocking the cold winds or rain in the winter months. As such, mesh outdoor blinds are ideal for any climate.

Another ideal fabric for outdoor blinds is canvas. It’s a material with the highest UV protection and overall durability. It works similarly to acrylic fabrics. Note that, you need to choose the right material for your outdoor blinds depending on the type of comfort you need throughout the year.

5. Energy Consumption

Outdoor blinds offer numerous functions than most people can imagine. For instance, you can use it to make your home more energy-efficient especially in the hot summer months. Outdoor blinds and awnings block at least 35% of the powerful rays from the sun from getting in your home.

Instinctively, it reduces over-reliance on air-conditioning systems thereby reducing your overall utility bills during the hot summer period. On the other hand, awnings and motorized blinds are also environmentally friendly. If you open and close awnings every day for a year, you would end up saving as little as $1 for every period. Choose the most energy efficient outdoor blinds for the best results.

Take your time to put these factors into consideration so you can choose the best outdoor blinds for your home effortlessly!

The practice of using shutters to cover windows actually traces back to antiquity, as the ancient Greeks were known to do it. Back then, shutters were made using marble. As such, they were permanently fixed into position. This concept spread around the Mediterranean, although timber shutters started replacing the older marble versions. The terminology of ‘plantation shutters’ started with the American South, as they were used a lot in the sprawling mansions of cotton plantations. Given how they were both functional and fashionable, they really never fell out of style. However, there are more options than ever in today’s market. Keep reading our brief guide below.

What Are They?

Traditionally speaking, plantation shutters are typically made out of timber. They’re called ‘louvres’ by some, but there are technically differences between the two. Louvres are by tradition not something that moves, whereas the blades on shutters are adjustable so a user can decrease or increase how much light is coming into a room. These days, they get made out of many different materials. Timber is very popular, to this day, but there are also fashionable shutters made using other materials, including PVC and aluminium.

If you are looking to install these types of window furnishings – contact Design Plantation Shutters for a quote on Basswood or Aluminum plantation shutters.

Plantation shutters are also used for more things than just window coverings. Use them outdoors or indoors with various hanging methods. Some users even make doors out of them.

Why Do People Pick Them?

Given how many other possible window treatments are on the market, why does anyone pick plantation shutters? Style is often the driving motivation. Plantation shutters can feature a formal aesthetic or even a casual, singular elegance. Some of them take people back in time to the periods of grand mansions. Other styles are more fitted for modern minimalism. There are plantation shutters perfect for huge residences to humble homes.

Practicality is also a big draw. They have adjustable slats which let you control how much light comes into a room. When they are fully open, you can let your room dance in bright light and fresh air. When they’re closed, you can block out light, keeping your home cooler because it doesn’t get overheated. The delightful playfulness that shutters create is also very pleasing. You can let natural sunlight into a room, but it’s dappled instead of harsh and brazen.

What Material Would Work For You?

The traditional choice is going with timber. However, PVC and aluminium shutters have come a long way. Timber does offer natural insulation, but PVC and aluminium are both good insulators at keeping heat out of a room.

Every material has benefits in the right situations:

• Timber has the natural look many consumers enjoy.
• Aluminium can be an effective option. They’re also durable and simple to keep clean.
• PVC shutters are usually a good budget option, but there’s more to it than just that. They can actually look nearly identical to traditional painted timber models, even though they’re cheaper and don’t need as much upkeep.

Do you like how natural timber looks? If so, you can pick plantation shutters made out of several different timbers. Reputable and trustworthy shutter makers only use durable timbers in their manufacturing. If you’re going to install them on the exterior of your home, then you need to pick a timber that will put up with your local climate. You have more leeway for interior timbers, meaning you can pick them more for their appearance than anything else.

Aluminium shutter blades are slimmer than timber models. They have powder-coated colours that can suit any interior or exterior decor and aesthetic. They’re great options for wet areas, like patios, kitchens, and mudrooms. Simply wipe them clean using a wet cloth or just rinse them off outdoors with a hose.

PVC shutters are good for homes with lots of windows needing covering up but within a limited budget. Modern PVC models look fashionable and are both fade- and UV-resistant. They are available in many different styles and colours, which does include the traditional plantation styles. PVC, like aluminium, is great for wet areas and spaces.

Kinds Of Plantation Shutters

These versatile shutters are now well-past their traditional use as timber window coverings. They know include windows and have many different opening mechanisms. Get shutters with traditional hinges, or buy bifold and sliding shutters. You can even get plantation-style doors for every room in your home.

Blade widths also have many different options. The most common is 90mm, but shutter makers offer more sizes than this, and you can always have one customised just for you and your own home.

Sydney Skinny supplies and installs plantation shutters, retractable awnings and many other types of outdoor shade structures.

Retractable Awnings

The Australian Sun is built tough just like our shade solutions. Retractable awnings are great for smaller spaces where you might want to use it in in full shade or in full sun – you get to choose depending on the weather that day.

Plantation Shutters

Our Plantation Shutters are high quality and come in many different colours and also a few different options on the materials. You can get PVC or Basswood, we usually recommend basswood unless installing in a wet area, the basswood has a thick white coloured coating (white is the most popular) and it incredibly lightweight and durable.