I‘m perfectly ready to believe vertical blinds can work in some cases but have never seen such a case 🤷‍♀️

My parents had the verticals in their AZ house, full walls of windows, and they worked so well for direct light, hence heat, control, and for privacy, without sacrificing view. I had them in our kids’ west-facing windows up north here, and again the perfect thing for direct bright light control.

I think they look fine in that house. clearly the owners are into white and spare, and they are really unobtrusive. And I have seen them over glass walls, because when open they stack to nothing.

I wouldn't hang them in a colonial revival.

I really don't see how you can look at those pictures and say you have "never seen such a case". What else would you put there?

Venetian blinds are the same thing only horizontal, and you would never get a single blind over a window that wide without them sagging or having tons of straps. And they would cover a good bit of the window when opened because of the soffit.

In 1988 I met my husband. His mom had just bought a few windows of these new things, verticle blinds. I thought they were awful then and I continue to not love them. Two of the three homes we have purchased had more than one large slider and windows that have them. They work beautifully if you want them to hide behind stationary panals and stay out of sight. DH made beautful wood cornices that cover all their hardware. When closed they do their job well. They work well enough, and hide well enough I've seen no reason to spend $$$ to replace them with anything else. DH built a tray so we can clean them. They look good as new. I would never have chosen them but there are waaay too many other better ways to spend money already spent. Sometimes you learn to work with or around what life gives you.

I would do what many people with a modern home do —- put a very nice motorized blind on each of those windows that is operated with a remote. There are many lovely styles, colors and textures. For very wide windows you use two or three narrower, independently operating shades.

Adding, yes— they are custom and pricey.

Similar to ceiling fans, vertical blinds are efficient, but not necessarily the most attractive feature of a room, IMHO.

I wouldn't hang them in a colonial revival.

This.

But I agree they work in the photos.

My dogs would have sooo much fun with those blinds.

I don't care for them, but - in my last home and in this one, we have sliding glass doors in the kitchen which lead to the deck., and I have yet to find something that will work as well.

They really function well with opening and closing and in and out traffic, as well as light control, so they're there. In this house, we have less of an issue with light ( it's an north east exposure) in the kitchen so I have done nothing and let them live here.

If that's what fits, that's what fits but I could never get past the clacking noise. They look fine, vaguely commercial. I think zebra blinds would have been a better choice.

In our florida home we had sliders everywhere that pocketed back for full openings and we had sliding plantation shutters installed on a top track only in the small soffit built out to accomodate the doors. They were very easy to slide back and forth and looked much better IMO. Also in Florida we needed the sun control and this is not an uncommon installation there.

adding, I understand why vertical blinds are used, I just don’t think they are ever the best solution.

I wonder if the art that’s on the landing is meant to be leaning there, or if it’s staged to be hung. It’s interesting how it brings a little life to that landing.

OH no. Had these years ago on patio sliding doors. Also had toddlers and dogs. Big mistake.

I like blinds, and they are probably the thing that I have spec'd most. I personally still like drapes and sheers too, but most people either can't afford them or don't want to spend the money. (I am talking about real drapes, not pieces of cloth.

sliders everywhere that pocketed back for full openings and we had sliding plantation shutters

Pocketed window covering and sliding shutter doors are ideal. But how many of these have I seen in real life? Zero. The vast majority of housing in this country, even normal expensive housing does not utilize an architect or designer to coordinate such a detail from the point of planning and early framingthrough to the end, it's just not in typical budgets. Where have I seen it? Architectural Digest and occasionally in a $$$$real estate listing. I built one ceiling pocket in my house and I was in luck because the joists ran in the right direction and there was nothing in the space. But it still took about 100x as long as hanging up a curtain rod or cartridge for a blind.

But the issue with blinds in my built environment is that they are either in window covering mode or they are not. They don't modulate very well. They are either open over all or part of the window, or closed over all or part of the window.

This house is very near mine

I can say from observation that this blind is kept closed 90% of the time, down to the sill. That's not the only window that looks directly in. So a large plate glass window that lets in a lot of light but is rarely used to see out. Here you can see one blind all the way down and two mostly down, but they are only like that for the photo. Even partially down people could still see you lying in bed. Bottom up would be better but they are

more complicated. And you can see that four out of the six 2nd floor windows have the windows fully covered, too.

And maybe it's just me, but if have ever worked in an environment that has windows that you can't see out of at all (frosted or milk glass), it's weird and kind of dystopian. To me a windowless room is almost better than a glowing white blank.

So here is the reverse view of the living room in the first photo. If this were roller blinds, it would be the same problem. If you wanted to cover any part of the living or kitchen area you would have to have the blind down so far you could not see out at all.

With these you can turn the vanes, depending where you are, so you can see out from certain angles but the neighbors can't see directly in. You aren't blocking Your ability to see out just because you don't want someone to see In.

Also, where I live, in certain neighborhoods, either they have never gone out of style, or the owners know they are out of style but they serve their purpose and/or they can't afford to replace them with something nicer that also works. And a lot of verticals were really ugly. Seafoam green, textured. Mylar, applied patterns in different colors and metallic accents. Those are a bad.

But these are white in a white room they don't even really make a statement, they are just there.

Most of the people I know who have motorized shades have “light filtering” materials used in the public rooms and shades with a blackout layer only in the bedrooms. True, you cannot see out of them but one would have to be positioned in a pretty specific spot to see out of slightly turned verticals.

I think this is one of those products you can tolerate or not…. like cilantro 😎

My house inside is SW Antique White throughout. The main seating/tv area has verticle blinds on the sliding door that match the walls. The rest of the house has mini blinds that match the walls. They disappear into the background and stay mostly open except for the bedrooms. I have different fabric valances at the top.

I love them and would not have anything else. They are out of the way, but let as much light in as possible. Most windows face due east, two face due south.

I had them years ago. Not sure why they went out of favor and not really understanding the negativity around them.

Mine were custom and made out of a material that coordinated with my sofa.

I never understood the hate, either. True that when we went to stay at my parents’ AZ home, our toddler was fascinated, but eventually learned not to do that. (he was more excited that he could go in and out without a step up or down, and without having to put on his snowsuit and boots.)

But pal you are right, they give privacy when open that other blinds do not. I drive bu a couple of houses with zebra blinds; not as private as the homeowners think..

I’m recalling the inlaws’ condo, again with plenty of large windows. Privace was less of a concern on the 12th floor, but light, heat, and view were well controlled with the verticals.

However, there is an issue with verticals and double-hung windows: if the window is open and the verticals pulled across, no matter how you turn them, they clatter in the moving air.

Very long and probably boring for most people because I had a cancellation.

I actually do not dislike Any of the options for window treatments if they are well-considered, are functional and are well made. I pretty much like any window treatment that is white when it should be white or coordinated with the room when it should be coordinated. I don't think there is anything wrong with a white window covering in a white room. That room could have any white window treatment (as long as it went with the furniture) and each would have its strengths and each would have its weaknesses.

I actually don't even mind Austrian shades or full on drapery that drags on the floor with tasseled trim (if they drag on the floor the correct way, and if they go with the room. Puddled panels just because someone won't hem something is not what I mean). I even did white lace curtains in a woman's bedroom for daytime privacy. Same issues, narrow street, windows right across, windows big enough to give a view to the street. And she likes feminine rooms (shrug) When I was growing up, I felt like master bedrooms often looked like only a woman lived there. (A new decorator asked my mom where she slept because the master was grasscloth and linen with heavy trim and casual tassels) Now I think most master bedrooms look like only a man lives there. Maybe a man kind of interested in decor, but not that interested)

White curtains and white sheers would work in this house too, and that's a complicated treatment but it would give you three options, all open, sheers for daytime privacy and drapes for nighttime privacy and light control.

The most complicated window treatment I did ended up being three layers. In a one bedroom <500 sq ft house in a narrow alley.

The two windows in the client's bedroom faced the two windows of the house across the street, and they were longish windows (150 yo house). And there was a streetlight arms length outside one of those windows.

While the bathroom window (back, faced a daytime use parking lot and something kind of blank beyond that) did not need anything on it because the next actual house was blocks away, the house across the street could look straight through the bedroom into the bathroom and out the bathroom window. So, the client needed sheers for the daytime unless he wanted the neighbors to see him completely naked or in his underwear. He needed a blackout shade because of the streetlamp. And as it turned out he needed a curtain with blackout lining to handle the light leakage around the edges of the blind. The room also had a window air conditioner, so the blind in that window could only be closed to the AC unit in the summer.

The house had had shutters when he moved in. They weren't great in the daytime because closed for privacy, the room was too dark. But at night they let in too much light. Same with venetian blinds. Same with blackout curtains alone. Too dark for any privacy in the daytime, too much light leakage at night.

When I first saw the room, he had venetian blinds and was putting a cardboard over the window at night.

We had started with just sheers for daytime and a blackout shade but that was not enough for night for this client.

I was in a similar house problem wise, that had power blackout shades that slide up and down metal channels attached to the window for 100% blackout at night. Very effective but really institutional looking.

It's the sound that's makes them a no for me, as deegw said. I can see the validity of all of the pro arguments though and they look nice in the OP post.

Dee, minw were covered in fabruc and did not make noise.

I haven't ever had vertical blinds and only have experienced them in hotel rooms, where they seemed to function well in the space. I think maybe sometimes they have draperies over the top? I can't really recall. I don't have any window coverings so can't say that I'd ever choose them or not. Bottom up blinds would usually be my preference so you can still see out over the tops and block most views into the room at living levels.

While I don't think they look bad in that room, that home is depressingly institutional looking to me. I don't mind spare but that is downright skeletal. The blinds contribute to that feeling for me, especially in the bedroom. It looks like a hospital room.

The ones I have the most experience with are stiffened fabric and don’t have a noise issue. (the ones that clattered in front of the double hung window were more solid.)

They look good in THAT room and work in THAT room. It is obvious the homeowner is going for all white, beige, and a tiny bit of blingy gold (lighting). They are getting the ”form and function”.

Verticals first became popular in the mid 1970s and i have to admit I did not like them when friends who had moved into new houses had them installed. However, when I moved into my current house 25 years ago, they were the perfect solution for my family room slider. I have dogs and the fabric verticals (both the initial install and replacements years later) were easily nosed aside when they were closed and have held up well. My husband is a bigger problem as he doesn’t open the verticals to open the door, rather he just pulls them aside.

As mentioned above, they don’t take up much room and can easily be adjusted to allow more or less light in the room

Over the years, I have responded to posts where I've recommended verticals, even though they were looked on as ”dated ”, as they were the perfect solution for the poster's dilemma. Not once has anyone else chimed in with a positive view.

I see them as another tool in the window dressing arsenal.

Well, it could turn into a conversation after all.

This is a big reason why people do not like them.

These are not vintage 1980s-90s These are all featured on a current website, in a locale where these, as well as other 80s-identified styles have never really completely fallen out of favor.

The lower two are relatively recent installations: look at the light fixture in #3, as well as that digital stone mural.

These are clearly a different thing altogether than the ones in the original post, even though mechanically they are the same thing.

I think they look perfect in that room - clean, unobtrusive and functional. I think they look attractive in that setting. We have them in the walk-out lower level at our PA place. We needed a sun blocking treatment so the kids could watch the large screen TV. The only time they're closed is when the TV is on or if someone is sleeping on the sofa bed. Most of the house has bare windows - we're surrounded by woods and you can't see the house from the street.