Blinds Only

If you’ve compared the prices of quality blinds to budget or discount blinds, you may have balked. Why pay top dollar when you can get budget blinds for so much less? But then you heard that little voice in the back of your head saying, “Wait a minute, you get what you pay for, remember.”

Still, the lower price of the discount blinds is so tempting… So how much of a difference is there? Are discount blinds really inferior?

At first glance, it’s hard to tell the difference between expensive blinds and lower-priced versions, but there are certain important things to compare when buying blinds.

Here are some of the differences:

• Budget blind manufacturers often use cheaper hardware, so your blind is more apt to fall apart.
• The mechanisms that retract the blind or shade are also made of lower quality materials and tend to fail sooner.
• Headers are usually not included. The header is the strip at the top of the blind that covers or hides the hardware.
• Lower quality finishes are used. That means there are fewer coats of lacquer or paint. In the case of paint, it is usually sprayed on rather than baked on for a hard enamel finish. Ultimately, this means the finish could flake off, peal off or wipe off with repeated cleanings.
• Low-cost plastic mini blinds may look charming today, but plastic does tend to sag over time.
• Faux wood blinds may look great at first blush, but they are made of plastic and over time will sag just like plastic mini blinds. Is that a look you can live with in a year or two?
• Customization is usually not available with cheaper blinds, so the fit may be poor and not block out light sufficiently, or be too long or too short.

Of course, you’ll have to weigh what is more important to you – long-lasting durability or lower price. Sometimes budgetary concerns outweigh everything else. But if you can, it’s probably better to spend a few dollars more and buy higher quality.

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