It depends what you’re after, to be honest. Wooden blinds give you that premium, natural look and excellent insulation, but they cost more and you need to be careful with moisture. Fauxwood gives you the wood look without the moisture worries and costs less, making them brilliant for bathrooms, kitchens, or if you’re on a tighter budget. Aluminium is the most affordable, comes in loads of colours, and is properly tough and easy to clean – ideal for modern interiors or if you’ve got lots of windows to cover. For bathrooms and kitchens, we’d usually recommend fauxwood or aluminium. For living rooms and bedrooms where you want that warm, natural feel, wooden blinds are spot on.

Easiest way is to close the slats completely (tilt them so they’re flat and overlapping), then wipe across them with a damp cloth or a duster. You can get special Venetian blind cleaning tools with multiple fingers that clean several slats at once – they’re dead handy. For wooden blinds, you can use a tiny bit of wood polish every few months to keep them looking their best, but don’t overdo it or they’ll get sticky. Fauxwood and aluminium just need a damp cloth – no special products needed. If they’re properly grubby, you can use a bit of diluted washing-up liquid, but make sure you dry wooden blinds straight away to avoid water marks.

Pretty much, yeah. They work on standard casement windows, sash windows, tilt-and-turn windows, even bay windows if you fit separate blinds in each section. You can mount them inside the window recess for a neat look, or outside the recess to make your windows look bigger. For uPVC windows, the 25mm wooden and aluminium blinds can be fitted with Perfect Fit frames that clip on without drilling. The only windows they struggle with are really unusual shapes – for circles, triangles, and arches, you’d be better off with pleated blinds. But for standard rectangular windows, Venetian blinds are always a solid choice.

When the slats are closed, yeah, they give you complete privacy – nobody can see in at all. When they’re tilted partially open, you can still see out but it’s harder for people to see in, especially at night when your lights are on. The trick is to tilt the slats downwards (so the front edge of each slat points down) when you want privacy with some light – this way people outside are looking at the back of the slats rather than through the gaps. If you tilt them upwards, people can see in more easily. Once you’ve got them, you’ll figure out the angles that work best for each room.

Wooden blinds can work in bathrooms, but you need to be careful. If your bathroom gets absolutely steaming with condensation running down the walls, wooden blinds might warp over time even if they’re sealed and treated. For proper steamy bathrooms, we’d honestly recommend fauxwood or aluminium instead – they’ll handle the moisture without any problems. If your bathroom is well-ventilated and doesn’t get too steamy, or if the blind is nowhere near the shower, wooden blinds should be fine. We’ll always give you honest advice when we come to measure – if we think wood’s going to struggle, we’ll tell you straight.

Some of them can, yeah. It’s not as common with Venetian blinds as it is with roller blinds, but we can fit motorised systems to wooden and fauxwood Venetians. It’s particularly good for large or heavy blinds that are a pain to lift manually, or for high windows that are hard to reach. The motorisation usually controls the raising and lowering – you still tilt the slats manually with a wand. Costs more than manual operation, obviously, but if you’ve got big windows or accessibility issues, it’s worth considering. Not all Venetian blind systems can be motorised though, so ask us which ones work if that’s something you’re interested in.

For aluminium blinds, you’ve usually got 25mm which is the standard. For wooden and fauxwood, you’ve got 25mm, 35mm, or 50mm to choose from. The 25mm gives you a more traditional look with more slats across your window – good for smaller windows or period properties. The 35mm is the most popular because it works in pretty much any room and any style of house. The 50mm is more contemporary and shows off the wood grain or colour really well – brilliant for larger windows in modern properties. If you’re not sure, go for 35mm – it’s the safe middle ground that rarely looks wrong.

Quality Venetian blinds should last 10-15 years easily, and often longer if they’re looked after. Wooden blinds can last 20+ years if they’re in the right environment and treated well. The slats themselves are usually fine—it’s the mechanism and cords that tend to wear out first if you’re constantly raising and lowering them. Aluminum blinds are probably the most durable because the slats won’t warp or fade, and the mechanism is simple and robust. Faux wood sits in the middle—very durable and long-lasting, but not quite as timeless as real wood. Whichever you choose, treat them gently, keep them clean, and they’ll keep working and looking good for years.