Wood Blinds Reflect Traditions |
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| By Judith Persit | ||||
Venetian blinds were invented many years before the common centuries. In fact, there is evidence that adjusting blinds are as old as 600 years old, or more. This certainly does not mean that if you put a wood blind in your window, that you will have a Victorian look. In fact, the current systems for controlling wood blinds is relatively modern, and there are enhancements regularly. The previous generations of wood blinds were those which used pulleys for tilting, by moving a larger top slat, which was attached to the lower slats on the edges. The method for raising these blinds used a pulley system, which the cords would have been tied off on the side, or even tied in a knot. Modern wood blinds use a cord tilting mechanism and a cord lock to hold their place. The tilting mechanisms that were popular in the eighties and nineties were wand controlled. These were replaced by the sleeker, but not safer, cord control systems, which have a cord to pull to rotate one way and a different cord to rotate the other direction. The lift cords have not improved much on these, but the cord locks replace the separate systems for tying off the cords to the walls, which is not needed with wood blinds, any longer. The look that wood blinds give is a bit retro. The seventies had a time when people either went with miniblinds or with the larger venetian blinds, many of which were made from wood. The Look of real wood in the windows, however, was not very popular during that time, so the real wood blinds did not truly take off until much later, when consumers started to demand the natural elements. The partnership of lacquered furniture and miniblinds is clear, and the look of real wood blinds with a real wood floor is a true harmony. People stopped covering their wood floors with carpeting at about the same time that they started using real wood blinds. So, with the end of shag carpet, people started into the natural look of real wood and tiles around their homes. So, wood blinds became the go to choice in the nineties for many homes. Later, designers for commercial establishments, such as restaurants, took the cue form the trends and began to use the wood blinds in their designs. The look became so popular that some suppliers of wood blinds offered more than 200 colors of wood, and a very large amount of those colors, more than 100, were different shades of white. In the last few years, there was a bit of a backlash against this look. If your favorite restaurant uses wood blinds, you may also start to think that this is a commercial treatment, as opposed to the beautiful residential look that the wood blinds had in the beginning. In the end, consumers start to seek out options. Fauxwood blinds became the trend for the replacement, then the high end started to be where the wood blinds went. Enter shutters into the market. As traditional as wood blinds are, shutters also fit the same bill. However, shutters can cost as much as five times the cost as wood blinds, or more. So, people sought out lower cost versions of shutters, and found shutter blinds. These are basically large slatted blinds, which work almost the same as wood blinds, but have a bit of the look of plantation shutters. In the end, we have come full circle. The timelessness of real wood blinds is evident by the memories that they invoke. Consider where you fit in history when you select the types of blinds you desire, and perhaps you will be solving the detective mysteries, yourself. |
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