Bathroom Blinds: What Survives the Steam (and What to Put on a Frosted Window)

A bathroom window has three problems most windows don't: steam every morning, a neighbour's line of sight at exactly the wrong moment, and usually not much wall to work with. The answer is a covering that shrugs off moisture, gives privacy with the light on, and still lets the room breathe. Here's what we'd put in, room by room.

An ensuite with a sheer on the window beside the bath. Sheers are fine here because the room is big and the curtain is well clear of the shower — more on when that works below.

The short answer

PVC plantation shutters: the one that doesn't care

If you're going to spend on one bathroom window, this is where. Our PVC shutters are a polymer, not painted timber, so they don't absorb moisture, warp, swell or peel in a room that steams up twice a day. Wipe them with a damp cloth and they're done (care guide). They have no cords, which matters in a family bathroom, and the 89mm louvres do a trick nothing else on this page does: tilt them up and you get light and airflow with the neighbours seeing only the underside of the blades.

Options that matter in a bathroom: a hidden (Clearview) tilt rather than a centre rod, so there's no bar to catch water and grime; a Z-frame if you're fitting over the tiled recess or a full frame inside it; and the 89mm louvre, which is wide enough to see through comfortably when tilted. The product page walks through each. Lead time is longer than a blind and the install is more involved — measure twice, and use the shutter measuring guide.

Our PVC plantation shutters on a bay window in Oak & Orange's Dream Home 6. Same panels, same 89mm louvres, whether they go in a bedroom or a bathroom.

We also make an Australian-made PVC shutter. Same material logic, made here; the product page tells you the differences and the price.

Venetians: the value pick for wet rooms

A venetian gives you the same tilt-for-privacy trick as a shutter at a fraction of the price, and it fits inside shallow frames where a shutter can't. Two of our four venetians belong in a bathroom:

Our 50mm aluminium venetian in black, shown on a real Better Built bathroom (our render). Tilt the slats up and the room is private from outside while the light still comes in.

Not Purewood. Real timber and daily steam don't get along; keep it for the living room. And remember venetians have cords — fit the cord cleat that comes with the blind and keep cords out of a child's reach, the same as in any room.

A white roller over a laundry sink. Coated and screen fabrics wipe clean and don't mind a splash, which is what you want above a tub or bench.

Roller blinds: fine, if you pick the fabric

A roller costs the least and is the easiest to fit yourself, and it works in a bathroom as long as you choose a fabric that doesn't hold water. Our sunscreen and screen fabrics are woven from PVC-coated yarn — they're made for glare on a west window, but that same coating means steam rolls off them. A coated blockout also copes in a ventilated bathroom. Avoid linen-look and textured light-filtering fabrics; they hold moisture longer and can mark. The roller blinds buying guide explains the fabric families properly.

The catch with screen fabric is privacy. A sunscreen is see-through from outside at night when the light's on inside, which is not what you want in a bathroom that faces the street. So: screen fabric for a window with a fence or garden outside, or on a frosted window where the glass already does the privacy work and the blind is just there to cut the glare. Blockout or a tightly woven light-filter where the neighbours can see in.

Curtains and sheers: yes, in the right bathroom

Sheers in a large bathroom at Northwood. The curtain sits on the dry side of the room, well clear of the shower and bath — the setup where a sheer is fine.

Every bathroom we photograph seems to have a sheer in it these days, and they look wonderful — but they're fabric in a wet room, so the rules are simple. The curtain needs to hang well clear of the shower and the bath spout, the room needs a proper exhaust fan or a window you actually open, and the window itself should be doing the privacy work (frosted or obscure glass), because a sheer alone is transparent at night. A big ensuite off a main bedroom usually ticks all three. A compact family bathroom usually doesn't.

If you want the softness and the privacy, layer a screen or blockout roller behind the sheer, exactly the way we do in living rooms (here's how that layering works). Our curtains are made to measure in polyester sheers that wash and dry easily; skip anything heavy or lined in a bathroom.

What we'd skip in a bathroom

Common questions