Best Wooden Blinds in the UK: Real Wood Compared

Wooden blinds mean venetians with timber slats - the warm, natural alternative to aluminium's functional metal and the genuine article behind faux wood's moulded imitation. They suit dry, decorative rooms where the warmth and grain of real wood earn their place. This guide covers the real-wood question specifically: what it gives you over faux, where it can and can't go, and three picks across the price range. All three are genuine timber rather than wood-effect.

Real wood versus faux wood

Before the picks, the central choice: real wood or faux. They look broadly similar from across a room, but they behave differently and the right answer depends on the room.

Real wood is genuine timber - usually a light hardwood. It brings real grain, natural tonal variation and a quality weight and feel that imitation can't fully match. It also offers a little insulation, as wood is a poor conductor of heat. The catch is moisture: real wood warps and discolours in humidity, so it must stay out of bathrooms and steamy kitchens. It is also heavier, so a wide blind is more substantial to raise.

Faux wood is PVC moulded and printed to look like timber. It is cheaper, lighter and - crucially - moisture-tolerant, so it goes where real wood can't. It is the sensible choice for a bathroom or a busy kitchen, or simply for a lower price. What it gives up is the genuine grain and the slight warmth of feel.

This guide focuses on real wood, for dry decorative rooms. If your room is damp, faux wood is the honest answer - our venetian guide and the individual range pages cover it.

What to look for

Room - the moisture question first. Real wood is for dry rooms only: living rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, studies. A bathroom or steamy kitchen rules it out. Settle this before anything else.

Slat width. 50mm is the classic wooden venetian slat - broad, architectural, suited to larger windows. Some ranges offer wider still. Wider slats give a bolder line and let more light through when open; they also stack to a slightly taller bundle when raised.

Tapes. Some wooden venetians offer decorative fabric tapes - ladders running down the face of the blind - which add a tailored look and hide the cord holes that otherwise let through pinpricks of light. A finishing choice worth considering on a feature window.

Finish. Wood finishes run from pale and warm (oaks) through natural mid-tones to cool greyed and dark options. Match the finish to the room's existing wood and warmth.

Weight and operation. Real wood is heavier than faux or aluminium, so on a wide window the blind is more substantial to raise. Check the operation suits, and choose a cord-safe option for a child's room.

Our picks

Best real wood

Real Wood

at Make My Blinds

Genuine wood slats from Make My Blinds for living rooms and bedrooms.

from £11.53 in 6 colours

Read review →

Best 50mm

Metropolitan Wooden Blind - 50mm Slat

at Blinds 2go

A 50mm wooden venetian from Blinds 2go.

from £18.36 in 12 colours

Read review →

Best premium

Starwood Wooden Venetian

at So Easy Blinds

A premium wooden venetian from So Easy Blinds.

from £42.43 in 8 colours

Read review →

Pick details

Best real wood

Real Wood

at Make My Blinds

Genuine wood slats from Make My Blinds for living rooms and bedrooms.

from £11.53 in 6 colours

Read review →

For genuine timber at an accessible price, the Real Wood venetian from Make My Blinds is our pick. Its notably low entry price is the headline - it brings real wood within reach of a faux-wood budget, at which point the genuine material becomes the obvious choice for a dry room. Six finishes span warm oaks to cooler greyed tones, covering both traditional and contemporary rooms.

It is the straightforward, good-value way into a real-wood venetian for a living room or bedroom. The moisture limit applies as to all real wood - keep it to dry rooms.

Best 50mm

Metropolitan Wooden Blind - 50mm Slat

at Blinds 2go

A 50mm wooden venetian from Blinds 2go.

from £18.36 in 12 colours

Read review →

Where you want the broad, architectural 50mm slat with a tailored finish, the Metropolitan wooden venetian from Blinds 2go is our pick. The 50mm width suits larger windows and gives a clean, shutter-like line, and the range pairs each slat colour with a co-ordinated decorative tape - a detail that lifts it from a plain venetian and helps block the light that would otherwise show through the cord holes.

It is the choice for a feature window in a dry room where you want the venetian to look considered rather than purely functional. The slat-and-tape pairings are the thing to choose between.

Best premium

Starwood Wooden Venetian

at So Easy Blinds

A premium wooden venetian from So Easy Blinds.

from £42.43 in 8 colours

Read review →

For a premium real-wood venetian, the Starwood range from So Easy Blinds sits at the upper end - a higher entry price for a curated set of distinctive finishes and premium positioning. It is the pick where the venetian is a deliberate design choice in a considered interior rather than a budget necessity, with finishes pitched as design options in their own right.

It makes most sense where the room warrants the step up. If cost leads and you simply want real wood, the Make My Blinds pick does the fundamental job for less; Starwood is for when the finish and feel are the point.

What we didn't include

We have kept this to three real-wood picks across the price range. A note on the gaps.

We have not included a faux-wood pick, despite faux being the right answer for damp rooms, because this guide is specifically about real wood - mixing the materials would blur the comparison. Faux wood is covered in our venetian guide and on the individual range pages; if your room is too humid for real timber, that is where to look.

We have also not included a wood-effect roller or a bamboo-style natural-weave blind. Those are adjacent "natural" looks but they are not wooden venetians, and folding them in would stretch the category past what someone searching for wooden blinds is actually after - which is, almost always, a timber-slat venetian.

Price by your window

The from-prices shown are starting points; a wooden venetian's made-to-measure price rises with width and drop, and real wood adds weight and cost at size, so a large window sits well above the entry figure. Each pick's page carries a price-by-dimensions tool - enter your measurements for the price at your size. The picks span the range, from the accessible Make My Blinds option to the premium Starwood.