Three Great Exterior Window Treatment Styles for Your Home

There are all sorts of options available to homeowners these days when it comes to window treatments that sit on the outside of a house rather than the inside. Although conventional window treatments, such as Venetian blinds, curtains and Roman blinds, remain extremely popular all over Australia, outdoor window treatments are becoming more and more fashionable. In many cases, outdoor window treatments are installed at the back of a home and are there to prevent excessive sunlight from flooding into a house. This is extremely useful if, for instance, you have a north-facing rear garden and want to prevent too much heat from building up in a conservatory or through patio doors. What are the best options to look at if you are considering buying external window treatments?

1. Exterior Blinds

Outdoor blinds are not that different from those that you would fit inside your home. They tend to be of the roller blind variety and can be raised and lowered with relative ease from a simple pulley system. In fact, some outdoor blind manufacturers install motorised rollers which means that you can operate them with a simple flick of a switch. Of course, the material they are made from needs to be waterproof so that they can withstand rainfall. Therefore, the fabrics that are used in them tend to be man-made. Exterior blinds can cut out all of the light that might otherwise flow into your home and, therefore, help to reduce your energy bills because you use your air-conditioning system less.

2. Awnings

Retractable awnings have long been used in Australia to create shade. Although awnings are often seen at the front of shops and restaurants they are just as good when fitted to residential buildings. Like outdoor blinds, they can be motorised or operated by hand. Unlike blinds, however, they do not drop the full length of your French patio doors. A good plus point of an awning is that it creates shade as well as providing shelter underneath.

3. Shutters

External shutters look great on all the properties but they do tend to have something of an image problem with more modern homes. If you live in a building that was constructed in the first half of the last century, then fitting external shutters is a really good idea. They are able to block out one hundred percent of the sunlight that would otherwise try to get in and, what's more, they are a great deterrent against intrusion. Would-be burglars are often put off simply by the sight of them.

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