Blinds or Curtains? A Room-by-Room Guide for NZ Homes

The short version

• Blinds sit inside the window recess, close to the glass. That tight fit is why they control light and heat better, and why they suit damp rooms, small windows and anywhere you want a clean, modern look.
• Curtains hang from a track above and outside the window. They soften a room, absorb sound, cover very wide spans in one sweep, and add a layer of still air at night — but only if they are long and fitted tightly.
• Together, they do what neither does alone: sheer by day, blockout by night, with the blind handling function and the curtain handling finish.

The warmth question, settled by NZ testing

This is where most people want a real answer rather than an opinion, and there is good New Zealand data on it. Consumer NZ measured heat loss through a single-glazed aluminium-framed window with different coverings fitted, in a lab held at 4°C against a room at 20°C. Their findings:

• An insulated home can lose up to 45% of its heat through the windows (about 30% in an uninsulated home, only because more escapes through the walls and roof).
• The right covering stops close to two-thirds of that window heat loss.
• Honeycomb blinds topped the test — retaining more than 60% of the heat lost through a bare window — because the honeycomb cells trap still air and the blind fits close inside the frame.
• Roman blinds came second, then rollers. Venetians worked too, provided the slats were closed — and wooden slats insulated better than aluminium.
• Among curtains, heavy lined curtains beat coated “thermal-backed” ones, and floor-length beat sill-length.

That last point surprises people, so it is worth being precise: a curtain with a plastic thermal coating bonded to the back performed worse than a curtain with a genuine extra layer of lining fabric. The insulator is the still air the extra layer holds, not the word on the label.

Separate BRANZ-site research by Beacon Pathway explains why length matters so much. A short curtain creates a reverse chimney: cold air falls off the glass, spills out the bottom of the curtain into the room, and pulls warm room air in over the top of the track to replace it. The curtain becomes a channel that actively moves heat to the window. A long curtain on a tight track closes that loop.

The practical takeaway: a badly fitted premium curtain will lose to a well-fitted basic blind. Fit is the variable, not price.

Room by room

Bedrooms

Darkness and warmth are the jobs here. A blockout blind fitted inside the recess is the most reliable way to get genuine darkness, because it sits close to the glass and the light has nowhere to spill. Curtains alone almost always leak light down the sides.

The set-up most NZ bedrooms end up with is a blockout blind for sleep plus curtains over the top for warmth, softness and the look. If you are choosing one only, take the blind for a shift worker or a light-sensitive sleeper, and the curtains if the room is already dark and you mainly want it to feel warmer and quieter.

Living rooms

Living rooms usually have the biggest windows and the widest range of uses across a day, which is exactly the case for layering. A sheer curtain gives you daytime privacy without shutting out the light; a blockout blind or heavier drape behind it handles glare on the TV and heat loss after dark.

For a large slider or bifold, curtains on a single track are often more practical than several blinds side by side — you sweep them open once rather than operating four separate blinds. If the window is a wall of glass, this is usually the deciding factor.

Kitchens, bathrooms and laundries

Blinds, nearly always. Fabric near a hob holds cooking smells, and fabric near a shower holds moisture. Aluminium Venetians and moisture-resistant rollers wipe clean and tolerate steam. Keep the drop above the bench or the bath rather than beside it.

Nurseries and children’s rooms

A blockout blind on a cordless or motorised control, fitted inside the recess. We fit cordless or motorised systems by default in any room a child uses — a looped cord within reach of a cot is a genuine strangulation hazard, and it should be designed out rather than offered as an upgrade.

Home offices and studies

Glare on a screen is the problem, not darkness. A sunscreen roller blind cuts glare and UV while keeping the outlook and the daylight — closing a blockout blind to kill glare just means turning the lights on. Venetians work well here too, because tilting the slats redirects light up onto the ceiling.

What each option costs

Made-to-measure, installed, at our current rates. A standard 1.8 × 1.5 m window is 2.7 m², so multiply the per-m² rate by 2.7 for a rough figure:

• Roller blinds — from $55/m² (about $149 for that window)
• Vertical blinds — from $99/m²
• Venetian blinds — from $119/m² (about $321)
• Sheer curtains — from $129/m² (about $348)
• Honeycomb blinds — from $159/m² (about $429)
• Linen-look drapes — from $179/m²
• Thermal-lined curtains — from $189/m² (about $510)

Unlined blockout curtains start lower, from $30/m², but they are a basic unlined option — not the lined drapes most people have in mind, and not the heavy lined curtains that performed well in the Consumer NZ testing. Every figure here is indicative until we have measured your windows. There is a quick estimator on our curtains page and another on the blinds page if you want to run your own dimensions.

For a fuller breakdown see how much blinds cost in NZ and how much curtains cost in NZ.

How to decide, in four questions

• Does the room need to be genuinely dark? If yes, start with a blockout blind inside the recess.
• Is it damp or greasy? Blinds. Fabric and steam do not mix.
• Is the window very wide, or a slider you walk through? Curtains on one track are usually more practical.
• Is it the coldest room in the house? Honeycomb blinds, or long heavy-lined curtains on a tight track. Both work; the fit decides.

If the honest answer is “several of these”, that is not indecision — it is the case for layering, and it is what most of the homes we measure end up with.

Get an exact price for your rooms

Ranges only get you so far, and the right answer genuinely does change room by room. Our in-home measure and quote is free and no-obligation across Auckland — we bring samples so you can see fabrics in your own light, work through each room with you, and give you a clear itemised price before you commit. Book a free measure.

Frequently asked questions