One of the best ways to take the look of your apartment to the next level is with the perfect set of blinds or shades. They’re one of the most underrated parts of home decor, but they can be easy to overlook when handling the interior design for your perfect apartment. When getting ready to install blinds or shades, you’ll need to take measurements for the mounts. Read on below to find out how!
Inside vs. outside mounts
The first choice you need to make is whether to use inside or outside mounts for your blinds or shades. Inside mounts are hung from the inside of the window frame, so they must be slightly smaller than the window frame, and they’ll likely let some light through. Outside mounts, however, are mounted to the wall or trim around the window frame which lets them cover the entire window for better obstruction of light.
You’ll then need to choose between blinds and shades. Blinds have the benefit of being easily adjustable to let more or less light in, but shades are typically made of fabric which can be thicker and block out more light than blinds. Choosing the perfect set of shades is a great way to decorate your apartment in a way that’s not only functional but comfortable and stylish as well.
Inside mounts
The first measurement you’ll need to hang inside-mounted blinds or shades is the depth of your window frame. If the recess of your window frame isn’t deep enough, you won’t be able to hang the mounts there, and you’ll need to use outside mounts. Secondly, you’ll need to find the width of the window at the top, middle, and bottom, and finally the height of the window at the left, middle, and right.
Take the smallest measurement you have for the width to ensure the blinds or shades fit within the window recess. Then, take the longest measurement you have for height – having blinds or shades that are slightly too long is better than light showing through. When shopping for blinds, keep your measurements in mind to find the perfect fit.
Outside mounts
Measuring for outside mounted blinds or shades is a little different, because you aren’t constrained to the exact size of the window opening. If your window has a trim border around it, you’ll most likely want the blinds to cover all the way to the edge of the trim border but not go past it. Again, measure the top, middle, and bottom of the window and use the longest measurement to make sure you cover all the trim.
If there’s no border around your window, you can choose virtually any width to hang your mounts. Just be sure it’s wide enough to cover the whole window opening. If you’d like, you can use a popular rule of thumb and measure three inches beyond the edge of the window in each direction for a balanced look to your blinds or shades.
