Explaining the Mystery of Wood Blind Slat Sizes

May 16, 2007 |

Our wooden Venetian blinds are available in a variety of different slat sizes, unless you have had some dealings with wooden blinds before, it’s probably difficult to establish which size is right for you and why. Most suppliers of Venetian blinds offer these different slat sizes but few can explain the benefits of each size and explain which is going to be the perfect solution for your needs. In this post we will look at each available size and give an explanation as to which application they are most suited for.

25mm slats are the most common size, it is guaranteed that the majority of Venetian blinds that you have come across had 25mm slats. This size of slat is the smallest available in wooden Venetian blinds and is perfectly acceptable in most rooms. It is best utilised in smaller windows (by this I refer to windows up to 120cm wide and/or 120cm drop) where the larger slat sizes can look to big and chunky. It should also be used in windows where the window sill is used for storage, such as a kitchen or bathroom as the smaller slat size takes up less room on the sill and leaves plenty of room for items to be stored in the window area. Another benefit (and possibly a downside) to a 25mm slat is that they cut out slightly more light than the other sizes whilst the blind is open. This is great when you need to lower the amount of light coming into the room but no so good if you need to maximise the light in the room during the daytime. This quite neatly brings us to the next slat size:

35mm slats are fairly new to the market, they are the happy medium of the slat sizes and are suited to almost all uses. A 35mm slat size means that on an appearance level, your blinds will look just that little bit different to everybody else’s. Even though they are manufactured from exactly the same quality of timber, the extra 1cm width to the slat size makes them appear more sturdy than a 25mm slat. There are no real downsides to a 35mm slat size, I suppose that they are the ‘Jack of all trades, master of none‘ of the Venetian blinds world. They cut out more light than a 50mm slat size but less so than a 25mm slat size. They take up more room in a recess than a 25mm slat size but less than a 50mm slat size. In short, if you are not sure as to what slat size to opt for, the 35mm slat is the one for you as it offers some of the benefits of the slat sizes either side of it.

50mm slats are the daddy of Venetian blinds! The robust 50mm slat size makes the blind look like a classically styled shutter rather than the typical Venetian blind (especially when combined with the decorative tape options available on the Winchester, Chichester and Canterbury ranges of wooden Venetian blinds). The main practical benefit of a 50mm slat size is the amount of light control that it allows you to have. Because of the wider slat size, the space between the slats is also larger. This results in the minimum infringement of the light that comes into the room whilst still protecting your privacy with the angle of the slats. The larger 50mm slat size does lend itself to larger windows due to having less slats, this means that the blind looks less cluttered than a 25mm or 35mm slat blind, resulting in a cleaner appearance. You would normally see a 50mm slat blind being used in the most used areas of a home such as the lounge or bedroom and also in offices. The downside to the wider slat size is that it does take up most of a recess area (about 75mm of space is required for a 50mm slat blind) and this would limit the space available for storage or ornaments.

There are a few things that should be noted.

The 25mm, 35mm and 50mm slats overlap by exactly the same amount when the blind is tilted to the closed position, however the more slats there are, the more gaps there are for light to come through. If you are aiming to cut out light (for instance, in a bedroom) then opt for a 50mm slat blind as there will be less light pollution through the gaps between the slats.

The advice given here is based upon wooden Venetian blinds but also applies to any other type of Venetian blind.

And finally, the simple rule of thumb is to choose the size of slat that you like the most. The tips that I have explained above should be used as a guide but if you want 25mm slat blinds in a large window, you go for it! They will work perfectly well and because of the beauty of natural timber, they will look fantastic!

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