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If you’re decorating with stripes or wondering how to introduce striped blinds into your home, this blog post will tell you everything you need to know. Various different types of blinds are, or can be made with, a striped finish; some of these are obvious, but others less-so, and this means that you have a lot of different options for both finish and functionality. But are striped blinds in style, and how do you work them into a theme or design?
I’ll answer both of these questions and tell you all you need to know about striped blinds and which type to choose as we go along.
Why choose striped blinds?
So, why choose striped blinds? If you happen to like the colours or style of a certain striped blind, this is obvious and simple enough! But if you’re open to ideas, wondering about the pros and potential cons of striped blinds, or can’t quite visualise the sort of impact they’re likely to achieve, this is a very good question.
Stripes can achieve a number of visual effects depending on the dimensions of the stripes, their colours, the level of contrast between the stripes, and how they draw the eye.
I have talked a lot across my various past blog posts about neutral colours; which pretty much everyone understands to be colours that are fairly muted (even if not always light) and that work more or less universally with any other colour you care to name.
If there were such a thing as a neutral pattern, stripes would be it for me; depending on the orientation and width of the stripes, and whether they’re uniform two-colour stripes, multicoloured, or even somewhat unstructured, striped blinds of some form can and do fit into literally every design and theme you can imagine.
Striped blinds of the right type don’t look out of place in classical and period properties, nor very modern or minimalistic ones. Shabby-chic, nautical, retro of every variety, and absolutely any other design ethos you can imagine can be paired successfully with stripes too.
Striped blinds come in many different types, covering every point on the price spectrum – from striped roller blinds at the lowest cost end, through to striped Roman blinds at the higher end.
Why choose striped blinds to achieve a certain effect in a room?
Different types of striped blinds can either draw the eye vertically or horizontally, make a window look taller or wider respectively, and lengthen or shorten the perspective of a wall or room.
It is a little overly simplistic to say that vertical stripes make a window look long or tall and horizontal stripes make it look wider or more compact; this very binary theory isn’t really considered to be accurate anymore, which is also bad news for anyone suffering from a little middle-aged spread who has been labouring under the assumption that vertical stripes are slimming!
Now, if a window is tall and narrow already and you use a blind with a two-colour vertical striped theme with strong contrast between the stripes (so one stripe is very bold and the other one very plain or light, or both stripes are bold and form a clear contrast) this will definitely amplify the impact of the height/narrowness of the window.
However, if you put that same blind on a window that is average-sized, or short and wide, it’s not going to negate these factors or make it look taller or longer; in fact, quite the opposite in many cases, as the fact that the stripes are very short can also shorten the appearance of the window.
The width of the stripes on the blind itself, however, is a bit easier to predict/envision. A blind with narrow stripes can lengthen or widen the view in the perspective of the person looking at it, depending on whether the stripes run vertically or horizontally respectively. Likewise, thick stripes can shorten or narrow the perspective too.
Are striped blinds in style?
Stripes as a design or theme is timeless; it’s not the sort of thing that comes in and out of fashion or that ages poorly. Obviously the colours you choose might date your design or theme to an extent if they correlate strongly with an era; think those maroon 70s and 80s bathroom suites, or the heavy overuse of terracotta in the late 90s!
Striped blinds never fall out of style as a whole, because the design of stripes itself is so iconic. Some years, stripes will figure more prominently in homewares and fashion than others, but they’re not something that can ever really be said to become out of date or unfashionable.
What sort of blinds can be striped?
Any blinds that can be made in a pattern or print can be striped, which immediately gives you a lot of options. You can get striped blackout blinds, some of which are also thermally insulating; you can also get striped waterproof blinds for kitchens and bathrooms.
Roman blinds and roller blinds can both be made in striped patterns, and day and night blinds are by design striped too.
Depending on exactly what you mean by striped, you can potentially expand your options to include vertical blinds, which are made of individual vertically hanging louvres, with the pattern they achieve appearing like stripes. Venetian, wood, and faux-wood blinds too are all made of individual slats, which can form the appearance of stripes when closed and particularly, when closed but with the slats tilted open to a degree.
For these latter types of blinds, it is the design/function of the blind that achieves the striped appearance, rather than a chosen pattern itself.
I’ll provide a quick round-up below of the types of blinds that can be made in a striped pattern specifically, but as I say, it is worth thinking about other types of blinds that have a design achieving the appearance of stripes too. This might be of particular interest if you’re looking for additional styles of blinds that can be used to filter light and control privacy.
Striped roller blinds are the most popular type of striped blinds all told, thanks to their versatility and variety. Roller blinds are the lowest cost type of window blinds overall, and also the type of blinds that you will find in the greatest number of options for striped patterns and colours.
Fabric striped roller blinds made from polyester are well suited to living rooms, bedrooms, and any other rooms where humidity and moisture aren’t an issue; but striped roller blinds can also be made in vinyl or PVC waterproof options, for bathrooms and kitchens.
Striped Roman blinds are a great choice for lounges and bedrooms, and Roman blinds add a certain prestige to any room. Roman blinds with narrower stripes or neutral striped Roman blinds are also a great option for a home office or study.
As Roman blinds are made of higher-end fabrics and are often hand sewn or hand finished, striped Roman blinds aren’t suitable for use in kitchens or bathrooms due to the potential risk of water damage.
Day and night blinds are striped by nature; while stripes can be a print, pattern, or design feature of other types of blinds, day and night blinds literally are stripes. This is also why they are sometimes known as zebra blinds! The sheerer stripes of day and night blinds are usually light coloured, but the opaque stripe can be more or less any colour you can imagine.
Vertical blinds could theoretically be made in stripes, by means of alternating the colours of the louvres. This is possible when other types of patterns (other than abstract ones) are not, as each individual louvre itself is one uniform colour rather than a blend, and it is the placement of each louvre that forms the stripes.
Striped blackout blinds are either striped Roman blinds or striped roller blinds made with a blackout lining. Vertical blinds can also be blackout blinds, and day and night blinds can theoretically be made from blackout fabrics too, but you need to align the stripes of day and night blinds into one sheer colour block when closed to achieve this effect.
What rooms do striped blinds suit?
The sort of designs and themes that striped blinds can support are really diverse; striped blue and white blinds in a bathroom for a nautical theme, for instance, or striped living room blinds to tie together a two (or more) colour theme used in the rest of the room.
Home offices are also another natural home for striped blinds, and can create a business-like backdrop for Zoom calls, while also showing a little personality and breaking up an otherwise plain or alternatively, overly cluttered background.
Striped blinds in kitchens are very popular as well, particularly in bright, fresh colour schemes.
Bedrooms are another option; really, if you like the style or design of a striped pattern and it works with your interiors style, there are no rooms that striped blinds automatically don’t suit.
How to style striped blinds
So, how do you style striped blinds, and what sort of striped blinds suit what sort of themes?
Day and night blinds tend to suit more modern homes, as do vertical blinds; but striped Roman blinds and some types of striped roller blinds are well suited to more traditional finishes too. While “stripes” is a pattern in and of itself, the arrangement of stripes, their structure, uniformity, and the colours involved in them go a great way towards dictating what sort of finish or style they will suit.
This sketch-effect Lombardy Lago roller blind with unstructured stripes in a range of blue/grey shades would suit many more modern or casually themed designs and styles, but might look out of place in a traditional room or formal office setting.
However, this Strand blue roller blind incorporates a similar colour palette, but in a more structured design that would make it well suited to a home office or study, a formal dining room, or an elegant lounge.
For bolder, more eye-catching striped roller blind options, this Dolores Lambada roller blind would suit a number of bolder, more modern rooms of all types.
A good example of how the colour of a striped blind can greatly influence the sort of style it would suit can be seen by comparing these two Jedburg striped roller blinds in the fire red and mushroom shades respectively; while only the colour sets these two blinds apart, the rooms they’re styled to match in our two showcase sets are very different!
Any questions about striped blinds?
If you want to run an idea about striped blinds past me, ask for suggestions to suit a certain room or design, or want to share your own ideas about decorating with stripes with me, please go ahead and email me or leave a comment.
