Full height or tier on tier window shutters for an Ilford bay?

Choose tier on tier if you want privacy at the bottom and daylight at the top at the same time. Choose full height if you want the cleanest look and mostly use the louvres to control light. Both work on Ilford bays, and the answer often differs between the downstairs and upstairs rooms.

• Pick tier on tier if your living room faces a busy road, you like to open the top for light without opening the bottom, or you have sash windows you still use.
• Pick full height if you want fewer lines across the window, the room is a bedroom, or you mostly leave the panels closed and tilt the louvres.
• Add a mid-rail to full height if the window is tall. It makes the panel stronger and lets you set the top and bottom louvres at different angles.

For a closer look at the two styles side by side, read our guide on full height or tier on tier. Our wider advice on blinds for bay windows also helps if you are still choosing between shutters and blinds for the bay.

Original sashes in Ilford: shutters that still let you open the window

Yes, you can have window shutters on an Ilford sash window and still open it. The trick is to pick a style where the lower panels open on their own, so you can reach the bottom sash and slide it up while the top stays covered.

Tier on tier shutters do exactly that. The two sets of panels are controlled separately. Open the bottom pair, lift the sash for air, and the top pair stays shut for privacy.

What we look at on a working sash:

• The depth between the sash and the front of the reveal, because the panels and the sash both need room
• Where the sash locks and lifts sit, so the panel frame does not cover them
• Whether the window still opens freely or sticks, since that changes how often you will need to reach it

Plenty of Ilford homes have lost their original sashes, but where they survive they are worth keeping usable. A shutter that blocks the window from opening is the wrong shutter.

Replacement casements in Ilford homes: handle clearance and hinge side

On a plastic casement window, the handle is the thing to check first. Shutter panels close in front of the window, so if the handle sticks out further than the space allows, the panels will not shut flat. Redbridge’s housing study notes that on many inter-war streets the old sashes were swapped for side-hung or top-hung casements, so it is a window many Ilford homes now have.

At the visit we check:

• How far the handle sticks out from the frame when it is closed
• Whether the reveal is deep enough to fit the shutter inside it (a recess fit)
• If it is not deep enough, whether a frame on the face of the wall (a face fit) gives the room we need
• Which side the window is hinged, so the shutter panel opens the same way and does not block it
• Top-hung opening windows, where the panels must fold back before you push the window out

None of this is a problem once it is measured. It only goes wrong when shutters are ordered from a quick tape measure across the glass, which is why we always measure ourselves.

If a window really cannot take shutters for a technical reason, such as a very shallow reveal with a big handle in the way, wooden Venetian blinds give a similar slatted look and sit closer to the glass.

Wooden shutters in Ilford or faux wood: kitchens, bathrooms and sunny bays

Pick real wood for living rooms and bedrooms, and faux wood for kitchens and bathrooms. Our wooden shutters are made from basswood. The faux wood option is PVC, made for extra strength, and it copes better with steam and damp.

• Basswood: living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and dry hallways
• Faux wood: kitchens, bathrooms, en suites and utility rooms
• Either: a sunny front bay, where you choose by the look you want

One of our shutters customers put the quality this way in a Google review:

“10/10 quality shutter blinds, great service from the owner. I did browse around 4-5 different shops but London Blinds 4U beat all the quotes with the same grade and material shutter blinds. Will defo be recommending and using you again. Thank you.”

Kawser Khan, Google review

Finishes come in whites, off-whites and a range of wood shades. If you want something else, tell us the colour and we will have the shutters made in it.

Louvre widths for louvered window shutters

If you have searched for louvered window shutters (louvred, in British spelling), you were looking at the same thing. The louvres are the horizontal slats inside each panel. They are linked, so one push on the tilt rod angles them all together, and that is how you set the light and privacy without opening the panel. Ours come in four widths:

• 47mm: the finest, with more slats across the glass
• 63mm and 89mm: the middle of the range, and a common pick for a tall Ilford bay
• 114mm: the widest, giving the most open view when tilted

It is a matter of taste, and you can see the samples against your own window before you decide.

Shutters for Ilford town centre flats and taller blocks

Flats are less common in Redbridge than houses, but central Ilford has some taller blocks, such as Pioneer Point, plus flats along roads like Longbridge Road in South Ilford. If you want window shutters in Ilford for a flat like these, a few things are different:

• Check your lease or tenancy first. Shutters are screwed into the frame or the wall, so most leases and tenancy agreements need you to ask before fixing anything.
• Think about where the panels go when open. In a narrow room, panels that fold right back against the wall keep the floor space clear.
• Height means less need for privacy. In an upper-floor flat, full height panels with the louvres tilted open often give plenty of privacy while keeping the view.
• Wide glass needs a different approach. Glass doors to a balcony may suit panels on a track that slide across, which we look at on the day.

We can do the measuring visit and give you a quote before you get permission, so you have the details to show your landlord or managing agent.

Ilford conservation areas and internal shutters

Ilford town centre, Seven Kings and Goodmayes are not in any of Redbridge’s conservation areas. Valentines Mansion is one of the borough’s conservation areas. Redbridge’s Article 4 directions, the rules that take away normal building rights, are tied to particular sites, such as one address on Ilford Hill, or to a borough-wide rule about small shared houses. None of them is about windows in Ilford’s terraces.

Internal shutters are fitted inside your home, so they do not change the outside of the building. The one case to check is a listed building: work inside a listed building that affects its character can need listed building consent, so ask Redbridge Council before ordering if your home is listed.

Areas around Ilford where we fit window shutters

Ilford is in the London Borough of Redbridge, in East London, and we travel out to it from our base in Dagenham. Our free measuring and fitting for shutters takes in Ilford itself and the neighbourhoods around it:

• Ilford town centre (IG1)
• Seven Kings (IG3)
• Goodmayes (IG3)
• Cranbrook (IG1 and IG2)
• Valentines (IG1)
• Newbury Park (IG2)
• Gants Hill (IG2)
• Barkingside (IG6)

Gants Hill and Barkingside have their own pages, because the houses there differ from the terraces covered above. Wherever you are between IG1 and IG6, if you want shutters near you, one call books the visit.

What Ilford homeowners ask about window shutters

Q: Can you put plantation shutters in a bay window?

Yes. Each face of the bay gets its own panels, made to the size we measure, and they meet at the corners so the bay looks like one window when closed. The corner angles are the part that needs the most care, which is why we measure every face ourselves.

Q: Are shutter blinds expensive?

The price depends on your window, not on a list. Bigger windows, more bay faces, real wood, tier on tier panels, mid-rails and custom colours all change it. We give you a free quote once we have measured, with straightforward advice and no sales pressure.

Q: Plantation shutters or wooden blinds: which is better for an Ilford bay?

Shutters sit in a fixed frame, feel more solid and are easy to tilt without any cords. Wooden Venetian blinds pull right up out of the way and sit closer to the glass, so they suit windows that are too shallow for shutters. For a tall bay that you want to look smart from the street, shutters are usually the stronger choice.

Q: Do plantation shutters keep heat out in summer?

Closed shutters block a lot of direct sun, which helps keep a south-facing bay cooler on a hot afternoon. In winter, the same closed panels add a layer between the glass and the room that helps hold warmth in.

We are open every day of the week. For a free measuring visit for window shutters in Ilford, call 07852 257 307, email info@londonblinds4u.co.uk or choose a time on our contact page. For other rooms, see our page on blinds in Ilford.