Faux Wood Venetian Blind In a BedroomFaux Wood Venetian Blind Close up

Let’s state the obvious, to begin with – a wood Venetian Blind is a classic. Combining the warmth of natural wood with the practical benefits of the Venetian style they’re a winning window shading solution for any home or office. Especially now, with the latest shift towards minimalistic and raw interior designs, the wood Venetian Blinds with their straight shapes and sturdy materials fit in the trend perfectly. Furthermore, they’re available in faux wood and real wood, and each option comes with a variety of colours, styles and accessories. So if you’ve already locked your mind on wood Venetians, the first thing you should consider before you move on to picking colours and ordering your dream blinds is: Which wood Venetian blind is the best for me? Faux wood or real wood?

Although it mainly comes down to taste and price, most of the consumers are unaware of the real features and differences between both types. In this blog, I’ll go through all of that and conclude it with a handy comparison chart, so in the end, you’ll have a much better idea of what type of wood Venetians are the best for you and your space.

What are wood Venetian Blinds made from?

Faux Wood Venetian Blinds are made from composite materials such as vinyl and PVC, making them very durable. The level of detail means that they look very similar to genuine wooden blinds, but at a more affordable cost – leaving you with the simple choice of choosing the slat size or colour, instead of considering the price.

Real Wood Venetian Blinds are made from basswood. Basswood is typically from North America and looks great thanks to its evenly textured grain – it’s used all over the world for a huge number of things, such as guitars, drums, canoes and, of course, Venetian Blinds. Being made from real wood means that real wood Venetian Blinds with a few extra benefits that a faux wood blind doesn’t have. This includes being lightweight, adding window insulation and integral colour staining – which means the colour sits within the wood and is less likely to fade over time.

I’d like to emphasise here that whowever produces the faux wood material, does an extremely good job as it imitates the genuine wood very well. Let’s see if you could distinguish one from the other yourself. There is a set of faux wood and real wood Venetians pictures below. Make up your mind and then click and drag any of the pics to see if you were right.

Can wood Venetian Blinds be put in a bathroom or kitchen?

Wood has some amazing properties that make it a perfect material for Venetian blinds. However, there is one that seriously limits the use of wood Venetian blinds in certain places – water absorption. Even the varnished wood left exposed to moisture for longer periods of time will deform. Therefore, places like bathrooms or kitchen sink windows are not ideal for real wood Venetian Blinds. It’s not going to happen overnight, but eventually, the effect will become noticeable. Areas that have high levels of moisture or humidity would be better-suited for Faux Wood Venetians blinds which are a lot more forgiving when it comes to sharp changes in temperature, high levels of moisture and watermarks from sink splashes.

Which wood Venetians are better for large windows?

It basically boils down to the weight of the blinds. The wood is a much lighter material than faux wood, as it happens. Therefore, the Real Wood Venetians are more suitable to accommodate large windows. For small blinds, this is pretty much negligible. Over the distance, the collective weight of the slats adds up and heavier Faux Wood Venetians can be difficult to operate. It’s that simple.

Colour and style options.

Faux Wood Venetian Blinds come in 3 different ranges that offer the beautiful look of real wood with all benefits of PVC. Each range includes a wide variety of slat colours, combined with an equally extensive choice of accessories you can provide stylish and modern solutions for any interior design. All slats included in each range are available with matching headrail and pelmet colours.

Essence Range
Expressions Range
Urban Range

Real Wood Venetian Blinds come in a smaller collection of 11 neutral wood colours for that unique touch and natural appearance. Wood blinds have natural grain patterns and textures from hardwood which makes them such a sophisticated and stylish window treatment. All slats included in the real wood range are available with matching headrail and pelmet colours.

Real Wood Range

Do Wood Venetian Blinds come with tapes?

Both Faux Wood and Real Wood Venetian are available with matching or contrasting tapes, cords and operating pulls, giving you a wide range of options so your blind complement your space in the smallest detail. The tapes for Faux Wood Venetian are available in two sizes – 38mm and 22mm, and Real Wood Venetians come with 25mm tapes.

Apart from the esthetic purpose, the tapes also increase the light blockage as they cover the cord holes in the slats, blocking the gaps that allow chinks of light through.

Faux Wood and Real Wood Venetian Blind features compared.

Feature Faux Wood Real Wood
Large Windows Not recommended Yes
Bathrooms & Kitchens Yes Not recommended
Matching Headrail & Pelmet Yes Yes
Matching Tapes Yes Yes
Light Blockage Very good Very good
Fire Retardancy Yes No
Feature Faux Wood Real Wood
Slat size 32 & 22mm 25mm
Colour options 35 11
Material Vinyl/PVC Wood
Slat Swatch Yes Yes
Digital Slat Swatch Yes Yes

Wood Venetian Blind swatches.

The swatches are available for both types. Designed to give a tangible experience of textures and colours of all venetian slats available, they are a great tool to you selecting the best Venetian style for any interior design. Each of the swatches is also available to download to your device in PDF format so you can access it anytime you need.

Faux Wood Venetian Swatch
Faux Wood Venetian Swatch – Download PDF
Real Wood Venetian Swatch – Download PDF