Custom blinds vs big-box store blinds: which is worth it?

What’s the difference between custom and big-box blinds?

Quality. Big-box store blinds are mass-produced in large runs to hit a low price, from a short list of fabrics and parts. Custom blinds are made one at a time, from a far wider range of better fabrics and sturdier hardware, to the size of each window.

What to compare	Big-box store blinds	Our custom blinds
Fabrics	A short list of fabrics and colours	A wide range of fabrics, textures and colours, brought to your home as samples
Hardware	Parts chosen to keep the price low	Sturdy hardware, built for daily use
How they’re made	Mass-produced in large factory runs, often overseas	Cut, assembled and checked by hand in our Edmonton facility
Fit	Set sizes, or cut down to fit	Made to the size of each window
Measuring and installing	Usually up to you	Done by our own team, included
After the sale	The store, the brand and the installer can be three different companies	One local team that measured, made and installed it

Big-box stores also take made-to-measure orders from national brands. Those fit better than stock blinds, but you still choose from a catalogue and usually measure the windows yourself.

What makes a custom blind better quality?

Three things: the fabric, the hardware and the hands that make it. Together they decide how a blind looks on the window and how it holds up to years of sun and daily use.

• The fabric. Better fabrics hang flat, hold their colour in the sun and keep their shape. Custom also means real choice: linens, textures and weaves, from light-filtering to blackout, in far more colours than a store shelf. Our triple shades alone come in 14 textures and more than 50 colours.
• The hardware. The headrail, brackets and lift are the parts you use every day, and the parts most likely to fail on a cheaply made blind. Our roller, zebra and roman shades hang from aluminum headrails, and our motorized blinds run on Somfy and Ronco motors.
• The craftsmanship. We cut, assemble and check every order by hand in our Edmonton facility. You see it in the details: clean, straight edges, fabric that rolls up evenly, and the same colour on every window in the room. And because the same local team measures, makes and installs your blinds, the care doesn’t stop at the factory door.

Quality matters more in Edmonton than in milder places. Blinds here hang against glass that’s freezing for months, then take long hours of summer sun, with about 17 hours of daylight in late June. Better fabrics and sturdier parts are what keep a blind looking and working well through all of it.

Are custom blinds worth it?

Yes, for the rooms you live in. You’re paying for fabrics, hardware and workmanship that last, and for blinds that look like they belong in your home.

Custom blinds are worth it when:

• The finish matters. In a home where the floors, cabinets and furniture were chosen with care, blinds are part of the finish. A blind made to a low price stands out.
• You want them to last. Better fabric and sturdy hardware stand up to daily use and to Edmonton’s sun and cold. Ours carry a lifetime warranty on hardware and mechanisms, with 3 years on fabrics.
• You want real choice. Choose the fabric, texture and colour for each room, or carry one look through the whole house, whatever the size of each window.
• You want motorized blinds. A motor has to suit the blind’s size and weight. We fit motorized blinds and set them up when we install.
• Your windows aren’t a standard size. Tall, stacked, arched and extra-wide windows, common in newer Edmonton homes, don’t come in stock sizes.

Store-bought blinds are a sensible choice for a rental, a garage or utility room, or a quick fix you’ll replace soon.

Why does a blind’s fit matter?

A close fit is part of a blind’s quality: it decides how much light, cold and privacy get around it. A blind that’s too narrow leaves a strip of light down each side, and one that’s too wide won’t fit inside the window frame.

An inside mount sits within the window frame, for a clean, built-in look. An outside mount covers the frame from the wall around it. Ready-made blinds come in set widths, so an inside mount usually ends up with gaps at the sides. In late June the sun rises around 5 a.m. in Edmonton, so those gaps are hard to miss in a bedroom, and in winter cold air from the glass spills through them. Our guide to energy-efficient window coverings explains why fit matters for warmth.

When we measure, we take each window’s width and height in several places, because few window frames are perfectly square. For an inside mount, we make the blind to the narrowest width, so it fits the frame and leaves only a slim gap at each side, like the roller blind in this bedroom.

How do you compare quotes for blinds?

Give every company the same list of windows, then compare the quotes line by line, not just the totals. Two quotes only compare fairly when they describe the same quality of blind. A good quote lists:

• each window separately, with its room, size, and inside or outside mount
• the product, plus the fabric’s name, collection and colour, not just “white roller blind”
• what the headrail is made of, and the lift (cordless, wand, chain or motor) with the side the controls sit on
• whether measuring and installation are included
• the lead time, and when it starts
• the warranty: what’s covered, for how long, and who handles it

Ask one more question: who makes the blind, and who installs it? When the store, the maker and the installer are different companies, a problem can turn into a back-and-forth. With us it’s one local team. We write up your quote at the free in-home consult, and measuring and installation are included.

Which should you choose?

• Custom blinds for the rooms you live in and any home where the finish matters: better fabrics, sturdier hardware and blinds made by hand for your windows. They’re also the answer for large or odd-sized windows and for motorized blinds.
• Made-to-measure blinds from a big-box store if you want a closer fit than stock blinds, are happy choosing from a catalogue, and will measure and install them yourself. Our measuring guide shows how to measure.
• Ready-made blinds for a rental, a garage or utility room, or a quick fix.