Do you need curtains if you have wooden blinds?

No, wooden blinds are a complete window dressing solution all on their own, both functionally and aesthetically, but you can pair wooden blinds with curtains if you wish. Some people prefer to pair wooden blinds with another type of blind instead; most commonly, an opulent fabric Roman blind.

Generally, you’d place the wooden blind inside of the window recess and the other blind outside of, or over it; and the same applies if you pair curtains with a wooden blind too.

Whilst it’s not uncommon to see wooden blinds paired with curtains, these days, it is far more common to see wooden blinds used on their own as a standalone window covering.

This blog post will cover some of the most frequently asked questions we get about whether or not you need curtains with wooden blinds in different situations.

Is it ok to have blinds without curtains, or does this leave the window looking unfinished?

Totally ok! it is the norm to use just one set of blinds rather than pairing a wooden blind with curtains. Whilst blinds have been around for just as long as curtains and probably longer, they are in many ways thought of as a more modern style of window coverings, and it is certainly true that most types of blinds produce a smaller, cleaner, and less fussy silhouette than curtains.

This means that if you have a very traditionally styled room or one with a lot of fabrics or opulence to it, wooden blinds can potentially stand out for their simplicity. This is fine, but if you want to, you can counter this effect and soften the overall impact whilst complementing the natural wood by using a pair of curtains as well as your blinds.

Do you need curtains if you have wooden blinds on their own?

No, you don’t need curtains with blinds for any functional or aesthetic reasons; certainly not in the same way that most of us would say that you’d need curtains or blinds as well as a voile or net at the window.

Curtains can produce a certain visual finish to a room (and of course, they cover the presence of the blinds entirely if the curtains are room-facing with the blinds inside the window recess), but this is simply down to your personal tastes, and not a need per se.

Do you need curtains if you have wooden blinds but want to achieve a full blackout at night?

Wooden blinds darken any room to a point that most of us would consider perfectly sufficient to allow for sleep, but they are not blackout blinds per se, as they allow some sunlight to pass through the tiny joins between their slats.

This means that if you want to achieve a full blackout at night but you have wooden blinds, you’d need to pair the blinds with either a pair of curtains, or another type of blind in a full blackout style.

I would say that wooden blinds are most commonly paired with Roman blinds in this situation, although there is certainly no hard and fast rule for what type of blinds to use.

Virtually any style or design of curtains also pairs well with a wooden blind, if you pay some mind to matching or using complementary colours and textures.