Curtains, Blinds or Shutters? A Straight Answer for Each Room

Every window ends up with one of three things on it: fabric that hangs (curtains), something that rolls, tilts or slides (blinds), or hinged louvred panels fixed into the frame (shutters). They overlap a lot, and most homes end up with two of the three. This is the honest comparison, on the six things that actually decide it, followed by a room-by-room answer.

Curtains: S-fold sheers across the living room at Oak & Orange's Dream Home 10. Soft, tall, and a blockout roller behind them doing the night shift.

The comparison in one table

Curtains

Fabric on a track, ideally ceiling-mounted and floor length. Our curtains are made in Australia with an S-fold heading in sheer or blockout fabrics, and a double track puts both on one bracket so the sheer does the day and the blockout does the night. Curtains hang off the glass and trap a layer of air, which makes them the warmest option in winter, and because the fabric runs past the window on every side they seal light better than anything but a shutter's frame.

Where they fall down: wet rooms, small kitchen windows where fabric gets in the way of the bench, and budgets — a wall of curtain is a lot of fabric (buying curtains online vs in a showroom covers where the cost goes). Most people don't choose between curtains and blinds; they put a sheer in front of a roller and get both.

Blinds

Blinds: charcoal sunscreen rollers in a living room. Glare gone, view kept, nothing on the wall.

"Blinds" covers a family. Rollers are the everyday answer — blockout for dark, sunscreen for view and glare, light-filter for soft privacy — and the double roller puts two on one bracket. Romans are fabric that folds instead of rolls, for a softer look. Venetians tilt for privacy and light at once and belong in bathrooms and kitchens. Verticals (where they still make sense) and panel glides handle sliding doors, and rollers and curtains can be motorised. Our types guide goes through each.

Blinds win on cost, on DIY, and on rentals. They lose to curtains on softness and to shutters on the privacy-with-light trick, and a bare roller on a big window can feel a bit plain — which is why the sheer-over-roller layer is everywhere.

Shutters

Shutters: PVC plantation shutters on a bay window in Oak & Orange's Dream Home 6. No cords, wipe clean, and they read as part of the house.

Hinged panels with wide adjustable louvres, framed into the window. Our PVC plantation shutters (and the Australian-made range) don't absorb moisture, have no cords, and let you tilt for privacy while the light still comes in — which is why they own bathrooms, coastal homes and street-facing living rooms. They also tend to be the covering people mention when they sell a house.

Where they fall down: darkness (louvres leak at the edges, so a bedroom shutter often wants a blockout roller or curtain behind it), cost per window, and permanence — once they're in, they're in. Install is the most involved of the three; our shutter guide covers measuring for both frame types.

Room by room

If you're still stuck

Everything on this page is made to measure and covered by our five-year warranty; blinds and curtains are made in Australia, and each shutter product page tells you where it's made.

Common questions