Measuring For an ‘Outside the Recess’ Vertical Window Blind

It’s often the case, particularly with older houses that windows and window styles, and sizes differ throughout, although there is often a very general pattern. For example, the main daytime living areas of a house e.g. the living rooms, are important for supplying large amounts of light during the daytime, and are likely to face out onto the road, or street, or generally to the front of building where they can be seen by passers by and callers. In many cases these aren’t in recesses, and are often ‘convex’ structures e.g. bay windows, to allow more light and visibility. Even in these situations however, vertical window blinds of different styles can be very appropriate.

Recessed windows are often found in rooms that are situated at the back of the house e.g. in kitchens, in rooms where it’s important to restrict the view into the room e.g. bathrooms, or in bedrooms. These rooms will typically have flat windows that are more toward the outside wall of the house – they will have a small sill on the outside. The inside recess is finished with a window board at the bottom. This is often used for decorative items e.g. ornaments and vases.

There may however be many different reasons why vertical blinds are needed to cover the whole of the window and the recess i.e. an outside the recess vertical blind is needed. The window area e.g. the glass, the frame, the general view, may be something that’s untidy or you may just want to restrict / obscure the view in and out of this area. Vertical blinds will therefore need to be fitted so that they are close to the inner wall of the room. Measuring correctly for a vertical blind is arguably the most important part of the process – if this step isn’t right then the whole effect could be wrong. For accurate measurements you will firstly need a good tape measure – preferably a steel tape measure. You will also need a pen and paper to record your measurements. Rooms, doorways, and window recesses in all homes are highly unlikely to be uniform and level in their layout. This therefore means that you’ll need to take 3 measurements across the width, and 3 measurements vertically for the height. For the width of the blind measure horizontally across the top of the gap leading to the window recess, horizontally across the middle, and across the bottom. To cover the recess and window successfully, you’ll need to take the largest of these measurements. For the height, measure vertical from top left to bottom left, from top middle to bottom middle and from top right to bottom right. Once again, the largest of the measurements will ensure total coverage.

Obviously, there will need to be some fittings to attach the blinds to the wall, and with most new vertical blinds, these are usually small enough to ensure a good fit that’s practically flush to the wall. If you have questions about the fittings / fastenings, contact a high quality vertical blind manufacturer.

If you need more information about measuring for outside the recess vertical blinds, call 01604 671189, or contact Blind Corner online.