Unleash your curtain style

From shutters to blinds, drapes and more, Vito explains the must-haves for window dressing.

Practical, pretty, functional or funky, deciding which window dressing to use is one of the most versatile – and complicated – styling decisions for a room.



Block contestant and window furnisher Vito shares his tips and the importance of selecting the right window dressing for your room.

The right hanging sheers can bring a refined grandeur to a space, plantation shutters will immediately transform a window no matter what the view while blinds can make the difference to how usable a bedroom actually is… but which is the right choice?

“The first question you have to ask is what do you want to achieve?” says Melbourne Block contestant and window furnisher Vito.

“Do you want privacy? Do you want to block out light? Do you want to soften the room? The answers will help guide you on what will work best, but even then, they can lead to more questions.

“Curtains for example are generally there to soften the room and to give it some kind of elegance, a beautiful soft feel, but you can have them centre opening, you can have them stack to the left or stack to the right you can have them cord operated, motorised, floor-to-ceiling… and then there are hundreds of thousands of fabrics that you can choose from.

“It really is something to think about!”

Vito's top 4 things for you to consider when looking at window furnishings:

1. Blinds with sheers

“If you think back to the old hotels or your Nana's house they had a dual curtain, one heavy and one a sheer to either block out light or offer privacy,” Vito says.

“They worked, but it was just so bulky! What is preferable is to have roller blinds in the background with your curtain or your sheer – a semi-transparent material - over the top.

“That way when the blind is rolled up you don’t see it and while the sheer offers privacy, it still lets natural lighting in.

“Then when you need the light blocked out, you just roll down the blind. You get the elegance of the sheer and the blockout capabilities of the blind. It’s a great solution and one that can be done in multiple combinations.”


When using sheers "it's preferable is to have roller blinds in the background with your curtain or your sheer – a semi-transparent material - over the top," Vito tells Insider Style.

2. Plantation shutters

“Plantation shutters have a very distinctive look and immediately give a certain style to a room,” Vito says.

“Because they’re a solid material – timber or plastic for example - they’re a great option if you want the ability to shut out the view entirely and in some spaces they work perfectly.

“But they are definitely a specific look - when somebody wants a plantation shutter it's because they want a plantation shutter – so make sure that’s the look you want and it will suit not just that room but the rest of the home.

“To use The Block for examples, Jesse and Kirsty have used them and it has suited their Hamptons look very well, but you wouldn't have that sort of style in Josh and Luke’s ' house… that older traditional look wouldn’t marry well with a very modern style.”



Jesse and Kirsty have used plantation shutters to suit their Coastal Hamptons style perfectly.



Walking into Luke and Jasmin's master bedroom all the Block judges loved the breathtaking bay window finished off with plantation shutters.

3. External blinds

If the purpose of a curtain is to stop light and heat getting into a room, why not cut it out before it even hits the glass, Vito says.

In the past, that might have meant a fixed-roof structure such as a pergola with translucent or solid cladding, but that means the light is blocked out completely and permanently, which doesn’t allow for taking advantage of a full view or the sunlight when you actually need it, such as in winter.

“There are better options,” Vito says.

“External blinds are folding-arm awnings or extendable rolling blinds even a screen for the external of windows and what that does is if you've got a west facing or north facing window where you've got a lot of heat building up on the glass, the external blind will stop the sun from hitting the window in the first place.

“That means the glass doesn't heat up and you can get up to 90% of the heat reduction in that room!

“So, if you've got a heat problem then external can be a great way to go, but we warned, they can be expensive.”



If the purpose of a curtain is to stop light and heat from getting into a room, why not cut it out before it even hits the glass with an external blind, Vito says.

4. Traditional curtains

There’s a reason the traditional curtain has lasted so long as a design option, Vito says, it’s because they work.

From a design perspective, a curtain is infinitely adaptable because of the huge range of colours that can be used and materials.

Using a pelmet or recessing at the ceiling will help hide the top of the curtain and create a luxurious feel, just make sure you get the length right.

“There are three options really, where the curtain ends about 5-10mm above the floor, where it just kisses the floor or where it is a little longer to pool slightly on the floor,” Vito says.

“In most cases people go for the curtain to just touch the floor, but it’s personal taste really, we went for slightly longer in our cinema room for a specific look and it worked really well!

“The key is to take a look at the options and decide what look you prefer.”

We love the NOORI curtains in Ocatvious Ochre in Tanya and Vito's home cinema.


You will find all the beautiful window furnishings seen on The Block including indoor plantation shutters, roller blinds and curtains in a range of fabrics, styles and colours HERE