What colour blinds go with white walls? When you’re choosing blinds for a room with white walls, does everything work equally well? They’re important questions and well worth asking, especially when you consider that the walls of most homes and businesses are white or a similar tone.
Get some insight into selecting the best blinds for your white walls with some help from the team at Lavish Interior Blinds Brisbane. Enjoy!
Sections in this article
What Colour Blinds Go With White Walls – The Easy Answer
The easy and short answer to this question is “all colours”. Why? White is a neutral colour, so when you partner it up with any other colour, they will go together nicely. It doesn’t matter what the colour is, or whether it’s light, dark, strong, vibrant, or has a pattern. They will work! Whatever you put with white will just go well. What matters though, is that different effects can be created by partnering your white walls with different types of blinds.
Because our goal is to find the best blinds for your white-walled rooms, in this article we will explore the way these effects can be created, hopefully giving you some tools to make better decisions when evaluating window-dressings for your home or business. Speaking of which, if you’re interested in blinds or shutters in the Brisbane metro area, please follow these links to learn more about our range:
Why Are Walls White?
Well, have you ever wondered why? Walls could be any colour, so why are they (nearly-always) white? The answer to this question is important because it also helps to think about what what you put inside your rooms, including blinds, to achieve different effects. White is generally accepted as a default and neutral background against which information and designs can be clearly presented and controlled.
You can put anything with white and it will show up pretty easily. The same isn’t true of darker colours. As background colours get darker, the colour options that can be used with them change. This is not a bad thing, but the the result is that less options are easily viable than with a lighter background, since dark colours can swallow up or reduce the presence of other colours.
That’s why paper is white most of the time, and that’s why the walls of dwellings and businesses are also often white. By making them white, it easily sets up rooms for a variety of design options with less limitations than other solutions. Dark colours can be constraining and reduce the sense of space, whereas stronger colours are more limited in the specific other colours they can successfully partner with.
Overcoming the Challenge with White Backgrounds
If everything goes well with white walls, then what’s the problem? The problem is there are too many options! When you’re starting off with white walls, there are so many possible combinations it’s easy to be overwhelmed. Unlike other colours, there’s no immediate colour foothold or guide (for example, a complementary colour) to get started from. So we find ourselves asking, “What’s right with white?” and not easily finding an answer, despite there being so many possible solutions.
Whichever is ‘better’ is purely a subjective matter of personal preference. You’re in much more ‘dangerous’ territory making colour choices that need to be compatible with other colours than ones that are only working with white. White is a neutral colour so whether your blinds are lighter, darker, the same, or patterned, they will just ‘work’ against a white background.
However, the various selected combinations do create different effects – especially when they’re combined with other design elements in the room, and that’s the nuts and bolts of this document – to see which effect is best suited to your interior design goals. Read on to find out more!
A Starting Point – The Whole Impression
To get started, it’s useful to take a closer look our white walls. Is there more to them than meets the eye? Be aware that different whites have different implications. Are you white walls warm, cool, or neutral? Are they matt or gloss? Do they have any texture? What materials are the walls made of, and are they made of all the same materials? Noticing the subtle differences in your whites will help you make better informed decisions about the best blinds to put with them.
Also, look beyond the white walls to the rest of the room. Unless you’re James Bond or work in the Apple Store, your floors are probably a different colour to your walls and therefore introduce their own considerations as well. Take a look at your floors, your ceiling, frames, architraves, light-fittings and any designs built into the room. In the quest for the perfect blind solution, you need to take all elements into account – especially those which you can not change.
Another important contrast consideration is the relationship between the blind and the window-frame. Just as when framing a painting, frames are important because they accentuate the item in the frame and build a relationship between the item and the surrounds, in this case, between the blind and the walls.
What’s important is to recognise the extent to which your window frames are offset from the walls. Are they the same colour, or different? When they’re different, you need to keep in mind that you already have a contrasted element with your white walls (the different-coloured window frames). In this case, you must take into account the relationship between the blinds and the frames, since there are more elements contributing to the pre-interior-design composition of blinds, frames and windows.
Finally, if your rooms are furnished, these items should also be taken into account, keeping in mind that they may not be as permanent as other fixtures (or maybe more so!) Everything in the room, along with the white walls, goes together to create an impression. It’s that impression you’re looking to complement with your new blinds – not just the white walls.
Handy Links (External)
- 5 Ways to connect rooms with colour
- Create a visual connection across rooms
- Meaning of the colour white
- Whites and Neutrals
Natural Light & Privacy Considerations
While evaluating the whole impression of the room, don’t forget to take into account natural light (through the day) and privacy considerations. After all, these are two of the main functional reasons for getting blinds in the first place. Natural light can be a pro or a con, but should always be used to your advantage when possible. Depending on the aspects of your windows, privacy considerations are always important, especially with bedrooms, bathrooms, and toilets.
The Fad Hazard – a Design Tip
You’re probably aware that if peppermint-green is ‘on-trend’ now, it may not be in 6 weeks – or even 6 days. Things that look really cool because they’re different can quickly become tired. The cool thing about blinds is that you can get creative without getting structural – but your decisions should still be somewhat future-proof. You don’t want to be rolling back down to your blind-shop in 6 weeks for another round of rollers!
An Essential Fabric Consideration
After coming to terms with the whole impression of the room, including the natural light and privacy considerations, it’s time to make sure you’re up to speed with an essential fabric consideration – light & vision transmission. By taking this into account, you can not only create a superior effect but also achieve a better functional result as well.
Fabric choice also has an important relationship with the colour of the blinds, since different fabrics permit different amounts of light to come through the blinds, changing the appearance of the blinds and also integrating them with the exterior view. In blinds, fabrics and colours are inseparable – every colour needs a fabric, and different fabrics change the way the blind presents.
The basic fabric types you need to be aware of are blockout (or blackout), light-filtering, and screen fabrics. These all transmit light in different variances. Blockout blinds block out all the light and vision, making them a useful choice when you’re dealing with direct light or privacy considerations. Light-filtering fabrics block out nearly-all light and vision, but they do permit some light to filter through which can really bring the blinds to life. Screen blinds permit both light and vision through the blinds. Used with discretion this fabric gets a fantastic, integrated result, but not one suitable for privacy or direct light situations if used alone.
Links to learn more about fabrics:
Flat Colour with Roller Blinds
A popular & versatile blind, the roller blind is a favourite in Brisbane and often a starting point for people in their quest for the perfect blind. A compelling reason why roller blinds are so popular extends beyond their simple effectiveness – they’re also the easiest blind to understand. Flat colour, applied with a roller blind, is a simple recipe with no complications and specific results can easily be achieved. We do great work with roller blinds, but are they always the best solution? It depends on how far you want to take your design.
The Importance of Contrast
When it’s time to choose the best blinds for your white walls, contrast is an essential aspect to understand and utilise for making decisions. Contrast is how different two things are, and can be low, medium or high. For example:
- High Contrast: White walls with black blinds (very different)
- Medium Contrast: White walls with a mid-tone colour blind (somewhat different)
- Low Contrast: White walls with a light colour, similar to white (similar)
The more contrast you create, the more visual stronger your solution will be.
Low Contrast Solutions
White on white! Alright! Not since the invention of (white) rice has anything been quite as white as white blinds in a white room. When you’re going white on white, you’re minimising the presence of the blinds, since they are quite similar to the white walls. With this approach, the blinds don’t define the room. This is done by furniture, accessories, artwork, and other features, which you can change anytime you like. This approach is safe. The blinds are a continuation of the existing tones so they don’t have any significant visual impact.
White on white cliches include ideas like : sterile; classical; minimal; calm; chic; masculine; feminine; corporate; medical; austere. However But it doesn’t have to be these cliches. It can also be family-friendly, cheerful, or even upbeat, if you decide to make it so by virtue of other design and stylistic inclusions. White on white is a versatile, practical Lavish solution.
After white-on-white blinds, we can look at combinations whereby the colour of the blinds is offset, but not by much, from the colour and tone of the walls. For example: off-whites, creams, mild-greys, beige colours, gentle pastels. Again, these are low-contrast solutions, where the colours used are similar to the white walls, and again, the blinds aren’t taking over. With low-contrast, the role of the blinds is to complement the walls.
The Low-Contrast Secret
The low-contrast secret is something to keep in mind when you’re selecting your blind colour. By using less contrast (in other words, a colour that is similar to your white walls) because of this similarity it’s much easier to arrive at a solution that has longevity and flexibility. Because the blinds don’t dictate the room, since they are similar to the walls, they have less impact and you have more control over options with furniture, artwork and accessories. The low-contrast secret is to minimise the impact of your blinds, essentially making them part of the background, like the walls. To achieve this with blinds, you can either work with lighter colours or screen fabrics.
In this installation in Wavell Heights, Brisbane, a low-contrast effect is created with white blinds against white walls. Because of the seamlessness, this approach is low-impact. The blinds complement the walls and their contribution to the design of the room is by virtue of the clean, professional Lavish Installation.
Mid-Contrast Solutions
Using stronger colours creates more contrast. Mid-tone colours like greens, browns, blues or greys are popular options with white walls – (everything works with white!) but now the impression is stronger and there is a discernible difference between the blinds and the walls. This stronger impression creates advantages as well, such as the anchoring connecting that can be established between blinds and furniture, or the way blinds become mini feature walls in the room. Also, bolder design statements can be made with mid-tones, since the blinds have a greater voice in the room.
High Contrast Solutions
High-contrast interior choices are designed to be noticed, and high-contrast blinds are no exception. The strong impression that is created between high-contrast blinds and white walls will certainly not be for everyone. It tends to be a more sophisticated look, trending towards the expression of individuality more so than the family home or the modern office, because of the strong impression created. High-contrast solutions use colours that are very different to the white walls, so they may be dark, or bright colours, and a variety of effects are possible: classical / elegant (black on white), funky (bright purple!), sophisticated, masculine, feminine, luxurious.
Whatever the case – they won’t go unnoticed.
How Much Contrast is Good?
Contrast can be used to create different effects. It all depends on what you’re trying to achieve, and how much of your personality you wish to express in your interior design. Lower-contrast is easier to adapt to different styles, whereas higher contrast is more dominant but also more expressive. Contrast is a useful tool to build from for this reason alone. You can ask the question – how much of an impression do I want my blinds to make? Which will guide you into areas of different colour immediately.
Handy Links (External)
Texture, Pattern, Fabric & Nuance
Talking about blinds exclusively in terms of colour is a gross simplification. Other factors such as texture, pattern and fabric type also have a role to play. They bring depth, interest and functionality to designs with any degree of colour contrast variance. A particular effect to highlight is the fantastic results that can be achieved with screen fabrics, which combine colour and texture towards a uniquely satisfying result, integrating the interior and exterior:
In this way, low-contrast colours can engender a more pronounced, integrated style, than possible if they were a blockout fabric with no transmission of light & vision:
Texture, pattern and fabric can be used to create the effects that really make blinds sing, creating nuanced expressions that don’t rock the boat with radical colour contrasts.
Achieving Design Goals with Blinds
In the practical sense, interior blinds are a great opportunity to enhance the appearance and functionality of your premises. To help make decisions about the best colour to use with your white walls, and keeping in mind information about contrast, fabric type, texture and pattern, here are some popular interior design goals you can achieve with your interior blinds.
Optimising Natural Light
Blinds can be used to stop light altogether, reduce light, or utilise light as part of the interior design. When the latter is achieved well, amazing results are created. This is very much a fabric-choice matter. Privacy is also important and needs to be considered. With double-blind options and multiple different fabric types, there are a wide variety of ways to optimise the way you interiors work with natural light.
Creating Space
When rooms are small, often a design goal is to enlarge the perception of the room but your design choices. Selective use of screen and light filtering fabrics, when appropriate, can help rooms to feel larger because they integrate the interior with the exterior, and utilise natural light. Also, lighter colours are generally more conducive to creating a sense of space than darker ones. by virtue of their connection with the outside and admission of natural light into the room. This isn’t always an option, but lighter colours in general are more conducive to a sense of space than darker ones.
Create a Mood for a Room
Different rooms have different purposes and different moods. Rooms are used by people, and their purpose can be reflected by interior design choices such as blinds. Colour can make rooms collaborative and cheerful, which may be great for a family kitchen. A bedroom, meanwhile, might be a calmer, restful solution. Blinds don’t always have to be the same through the whole home. Sometimes, a variety of different blind colours is the best way to achieve the result you’re looking for.
In Conclusion – Measuring the Performance of Your Choice
The right solution depends on who’s using it, and how the design affects them. In conclusion, here are some helpful benchmarks by which the success of your colour choice can be measured, which are good to keep in mind when making choices in the first place.
- Longevity – How long will your solution remains relevant
- Integration – How well does your solution integrate?
- Purpose – How does your solution reflect the purpose of the room?
- Personality – How much do you need to express yourself in the design?