Best Blinds for Households with Pets

Important Features

As much as we love our pets, they can be a bit of a nuisance when it comes to keeping your window treatments in good condition. Scratching on the wrong window treatment will create permanent signs of damage that decrease the value of your window treatments and compromise their visual appeal. Dirt and fur create another problem, as pets typically cause a significant increase in cleaning requirements, including for window treatments. This means that window treatments for pet-friendly households should meet a couple of different standards. Firstly, they should be easy to clean, as they will likely require cleaning often. Secondly, they should be highly durable, as they will need to be able to survive the full brunt of whatever a pet might throw at them. Here are our recommendations for the best window treatments in houses with pets.

Roller, Solar, & Zebra Shades

Simple and low maintenance roller shades are an excellent choice for households with pets. Their vertical surfaces collect little dust and debris when compared to other window treatments, which means less cleaning and less often. They are also very easy to clean, requiring only a blast of compressed air, a gentle vacuuming, or a simple wipe down with a cloth or similar item. Roller shades are relatively durable as well, depending on the fabric choice you make. A durable fabric should withstand minor attacks from cats, dogs, and other household pets, but they are still susceptible to major attacks that leave unsightly scratches and tears behind. For alternatives with similar benefits, consider either solar shades or zebra shades, which are also vertically oriented window treatments. These products all have the advantage of being on the affordable end of the window treatment spectrum, so they are not as painful to have to replace as other fabric window treatments like drapery or roman shades.

Faux Wood Blinds & Shutters

The more durable, but higher maintenance, faux wood blinds are also an excellent option for homes with pets. While most pets will likely cause few problems in a home with roller shades, those that are particularly prone to attacking window treatments will likely do better in an environment with faux wood window treatments. Faux wood is very durable, and scratches do not show up on it to the same degree that they do on fabric or authentic wood window treatments. Faux wood blinds are also an affordable window treatment option, although PVC shutters offer many of the same benefits at a higher price range for a more luxurious product.

Things to Avoid

Now that we’ve gone over our recommendations, let’s take a look at some products and properties that you should absolutely try to avoid.

High Maintenance Products

High maintenance window treatment products can be great choices for the right consumer, but pet owners are typically not that consumer. Drapery, hobbled roman shades, and horizontal sheers will collect copious levels of dust and fur that will need constant cleaning. Additionally, they are vulnerable to being damaged by pets jumping into them or scratching their delicate fabric.

Cords

Dangling from the sides of your window treatments, cords are a tempting toy for many pets, especially cats. Playing with these cords may seem like a cute and harmless activity for your pets, but it poses a real danger to both your pets and window treatments alike. Window treatments are put at risk by the pet tugging on and swiping at them on a consistent basis – a recipe for disaster – while the pet is at risk of becoming tangled up in the cords, resulting in a dangerous situation for them.

Overlength Products

Another problem to avoid is overlength window treatments. Not only do these have some of the same problems as dangling cords, they also serve as clingy surfaces for dust and fur to gather upon. Nobody wants a matte of fur on the bottom of their curtains or shades, so avoid overlength window treatments altogether.