Wow! Have you seen the huge transformation that 2018’s The Block couple Norm & Jess have made to their home kitchen?! The recent reveal is stunning and made more impressive by the bold headlines on every news source “The $460 kitchen!” Or “The Block’s Jess and Norm Renovate Their Kitchen for $460”.

Crazy right?!

The pictures are fantastic and show a previously tired brown kitchen transformed with some smart paint choices, new grout and updated cabinetry knobs. The cost break down is there as are the how-to tips so the couch renovators can tackle their own renovation transformation at home.

But can we talk about the shutters not being in the budget please?

The original post makes a little reference to the newly installed shutters: “We renovated our kitchen for $460!... Shutters were additional, but not much”.

So how much could you expect to pay for plantation shutters if you have windows that look the same as these? How much should you budget for shutters if you really do want to attempt your own renovation?

With only the pictures to go off (and our years of measuring literally thousands of windows!) we’re hazarding a guess that the closest standard window sizes to those in the pictures are (width) 1.2m x 0.9m (drop) and 1.8m x 1.8m. While the price of shutters varies a lot throughout parts of Australia, you’d be very hard-pressed to find anyone supplying and installing plantation shutters of any decent quality for these two windows for under $1000 - which is already more than twice the cost of what was spent elsewhere in the kitchen renovation.

Recommended retail pricing from an Australian online public retailer has the estimated price for this job around $1400 - and that is without that company even providing any onsite consultation, check measure or installation service (all which can be added on by them for an additional  cost again).

The main thing to take home here is noticing and being aware that the cost of window furnishings has not been factored into the cost breakdown of the amazing reveal or the final renovation expenses. Sure the headline of renovating a kitchen for under $2000 isn’t as eye grabbing as renovating a kitchen for under $500, and advertising an amazing private discount not available to the public is very taboo, but don’t ever exclude new window dressings from your renovation or new build budget! It needs to be factored into every single room or overall costing. Otherwise you’ll find yourself displaying the original 1980s architrave and a dirty vertical blind in your otherwise renovated kitchen, or hanging bed sheets over your beautiful new windows because you didn’t factor in the cost of new plantation shutters.

Because without budgeting for new window furnishings, your renovated kitchen could look like this...

Or even this...

To avoid the disappointment of having an unfinished house at handover, or to have an accurate idea of how much new window furnishings are really going to cost, contact your local window furnishings experts. Here at Riverina Plantation Shutters we offer free onsite consultations and quotes, and are happy to quote you from a floor plan or work with your builder to help factor your costs in.

Make sure your windows are finished properly.
Happy renovating and building!

Riverina Plantation Shutters
Wagga | Griffith | Albury
1300 003 514
rpshutters@gmail.com

Well 2019 is cracking along! Spring is nearly here. 

It was only Autumn this year when we at Riverina Plantation Shutters expanded our business to include supplying and installing blinds in the Riverina. Expanding our product range to include interior blinds and exterior blinds made sense: We had a lot of local customers asking us if we sell custom blinds! 

Fitting blinds is something we had done already for years. Contract installations for window furnishing stores in Wagga Wagga is how we first started in the industry. Our blind fittings quickly expanded in area to cover Griffith, Albury, Canberra and occasionally into further areas!

We already knew blinds. We knew which blind hardware we liked. We knew the ins and outs of blind fitting. Becoming a blinds supplier in Wagga was the next step. As our name suggests, we supply and install to the entire Riverina out of our three main hubs: Wagga Wagga, Griffith and Albury. 

So if you're building or renovating and looking for a custom blinds supplier in Wagga, Griffith or Albury, contact Riverina Plantation Shutters and we will book a free design consultation with you to help you choose the right product and fabric for your home. 

-RPShutters
1300 003 514
rpshutters@gmail.com

Following on from our last post about "Blinds that look like shutters", we naturally need to explore zebra blinds.

Sometimes referred to as "day and night blinds" or "sheer roller blinds" these blinds are made from a unique fabric that alternates between wide blockout bands and translucent bands. The blind is double-layered and as both layers slide against each other the fabric bands either stack or coincide. This design allows you to control and maximise your rooms natural lighting and privacy. 

As with a standard roller blind, when a zebra blind is fully raised the window has a completely unobstructed view. When a zebra blind is lowered, the horizontal blockout bands partially obscure the view - creating an effect similar to plantation shutter blades or venetian blind louvres. Hence why, some zebra blinds look like plantation shutters. If you want complete privacy, fully close the blind by stacking the blockout fabric bands, completely hiding the window. 

Our fabric selections for our Zebra Blinds covers the common interior window furnishing styles. The blockout bands don't have to be a complete blockout fabric either. Our fabric range includes light filtering and sheer fabrics for these blinds, as well as blockout fabrics.

Each Zebra Blind is finished with a full cassette to hide the components at the top, and a bottom rail in a colour to complement your fabric choice. 

Zebra Blinds are a standard part of our Riverina Blinds Range. Each blind is custom made in Melbourne and delivered to our Blinds Shop in Wagga Wagga, NSW. From there we supply and install blinds in Griffith, Albury-Wodonga, Wagga Wagga and the surrounding Riverina. 

So if you're looking for new blinds and live in or around Wagga, Griffith or Albury, give Riverina Plantation Shutters a call and we will book a home consultation for you. 

-RPShutters (and Blinds!)

It's a question that we have heard before - "do you have blinds that look like shutters?".

The answer is... Not really... but if you'd like us to explore venetian blinds we can?! (*NB: stay tuned for a post about our zebra day/night fabric blinds)

The closest blind that looks like plantation shutters is the venetian blind. Made from horizontal slats of either timber or aluminium, venetian blinds can come in a range of colours - most commonly however, white blinds or timber blinds. The horizontal louvres can appear similar to the horizontal blades of a plantation shutter however there are a few key differences you should be aware of if you're not familiar with both products. 

Most commonly, plantation shutter louvres are made at an individual width of 89mm, while venetian louvres are narrower at either 50mm or 63mm wide. Yes, you can get plantation shutters with 63mm blades (or 115mm blades for that matter) but those widths are not the typical appearance when someone is imagining "planation shutters". 

Secondly, individual plantation shutter blades are also an elliptical shape, and 10.5mm thick at their widest, while the venetian louvres are a flat, 3mm wide, rectangular slat.

Plantation shutters are a completely cordless product, opened simply by tilting the blades by hand to any position of your choosing. The only vertical lines seen with a plantation shutter is the vertical control rod - which can be hidden on the internal side of the shutter if you want an unobstructed view and a modern design style. If you want to keep a more traditional style for your interiors, a tubular tilt rod in the same colour as the shutter louvres, can be built onto the front of your plantation shutters.

Venetian blinds in contrast however, are laddered together using a number of vertical fabric tapes threaded through small holes in each slat. The laddering tapes feed into the hanging cords at the front of the blind that are necessary to both lift the blinds open and closed and to tilt the individual blades. You can opt to reduce the number of hanging cords to try and achieve a more cordless blind look by replacing the tilt cords with a tubular hanging wand instead. Ladder tapes and lift cords will still remain however, so you will never fully achieve a "no-cord" appearance. 

So why choose one product over the other?

Well obviously design preference is individual! One person, family or house may prefer once product over the other. Both products are available in a range of colours, timbers and wood look finishes so neither is more superior there.

Both products are easy to clean, requiring only a duster or a damp cloth if necessary. Plantation Shutters probably do have the edge with being the easiest to clean due to the increased size of the blades meaning less blades to have to dust, and no fiddly cords to deal with. 

From an insulation point of view, plantation shutters are the most environmentally efficient interior window covering. Venetian blinds are not terrible (hello curtains I'm looking at you!), rating better than roller blinds for efficiency, however plantation shutters are the best internal window covering for insulation. 

For a large job, venetian blinds are faster to have manufactured and installed than plantation shutters. At the time of writing this (August, 2019) our lead time for venetian blinds is custom made and installed in around 2-weeks. Plantation Shutters (while subject to which range is chosen) have a lead time anywhere from 3-weeks upward. 

If price is a factor it's not a simple answer to say that one product is more expensive than the other. Size of your window, material of manufacture (i.e. PVC Shutters vs Timber Shutters vs Timber Blinds), final colour chosen, and framing type can all affect the final price of both products. In some specific quotes a venetian blind would be cheaper, and in others, a plantation shutter would be cheaper. There is no standard answer and that is why we choose to do individualised consultations with customer quote. 

So if you are busy searching for timber blinds on the assumption that they will be cheaper than plantation shutters, contact us using our Book Now button at the top of the page and we can help you find exactly what you are after. 



- Riverina Plantation Shutters