Curtains and Blinds for Tilt and Turn Windows

Hi All,

We will be building a house hopefully later in the year and are planning on putting in Tilt and Turn uPVC windows as I love the idea of them (seen them plenty of times in Europe) and obviously because their performance is excellent. We live in the Ballarat Region so need good double glazed windows that seal up well.

The only dilemma I have is window furnishing Tilt and Turn windows. As they tilt and open inwards normal blinds will be in the way. I have seen custom made venetian blinds for them online however I'm not sure if I like the look.

I have already decided to go with awning style windows in the main bedroom and bathroom/ensuite because I would like to install plantation shutters to them windows. The kitchen window will also be Casement style (opening outwards) so not an issue there. I am however not sure if I can use normal curtains (with pelmets perhaps) in the living areas and roman blinds in the other bedrooms. Thinking any type of blinds (unless specially made to be attached to the window itself) are going to be in the way of opening the windows.

Does anyone have Tilt and Turn windows? What did you do in regards to curtains and blinds. I can't remember what they used in Europe, thinking it was just normal curtains on rod (no pelmet).

Also if anyone has these windows, have you had any issues or anything we should know before we install them?

We don't have Tilt and Turn windows yet, but are getting them in our new build, and went through this dilemma ourselves a month or two ago. After researching and shopping around, we're planning to use a combination of honeycomb blinds that are specifically designed to attach directly to Tilt and Turn windows (you can get them online through places like Nordic Blinds or Veneta) and Roman blinds that sit outside the frames and fold up into a pelmet above the window when retracted.

The Roman blinds obviously will need to be retracted for the windows to be opened, but the honeycomb blinds can still be fully extended with the windows open (they go against the glass, not the window gap), so they can still be used for privacy/screening even when the windows are (partially) open. Hope that makes sense.

We have tilt and turn windows, and you are correct that windows coverings requires some thought. We are going with honeycomb blinds that will retract into a built in pelmet above windows, with sufficient clearance to allow the windows to operate. I like the idea of attaching them to the window, but I don't like the tracks and they do not isolate the frames which defeats the insulative properties of the blinds. I guess the other option is to use curtains that clear the either side of the windows.

We went with two layers of blinds for a couple of reasons. We wanted translucent blinds to let light through while still providing privacy - these are the honeycomb blinds attached to the window, so they can still be used even when the window is open. We also wanted heavy blinds that sit outside of the frames for better light blocking and thermal insulation - these are the romans (I personally would've been happy with honeycomb blinds for these as well, but my partner wanted the romans instead, which I'm still okay with).

We've experimented with this type of dual setup (lightweight blinds inside the frame, heavier curtains outside) in our current house (standard single-glazed aluminium-framed windows). The thermal and noise insulation benefits from having the two layers surprised us - significantly better than from the curtains alone (we also live near a major road and noticed the noise insulation effects immediately).

Note that while blinds attached to the windows don't fully isolate the frames (and so aren't 100% effective), they still do provide a decent benefit. My understanding (and happy to be corrected on this if anybody has any data to the contrary) is that not covering the frames much less of an issue for multi-chambered uPVC frames (as opposed to standard, non-thermally-broken aluminium). So it its possible that we're over-engineering things, but that's the way we're going for now.