Lets face it, despite all the energy efficiency and security drum banging, looks also do play an important part when it comes to customers choosing their new windows and doors.

You can quite easily get the looks of a PVCu window wrong. Take the early versions of PVCu frames in the 80’s and early 90’s. They were chunky, bulky and simply looked very cheap and poorly put together. There weren’t many colour options either. There was white and Mahogany only, then Light Oak made an appearance. But even then, these early attempts were shocking and looked awful.

However, with time, things have improved vastly. Gone are the days of just square chunky Chamfered frames, and now there is a wide range of Sculptured/Ovolo options which look far neater and have far much more character than their predecessors. Then there are other nifty little things like decorative mock sash horns, monkey tailed handles, fringe colours like grey, cream, Irish Oak etc. Some manufacturers really do take the looks of their products seriously, almost as an art form, and I think it reflects in sales as the less standard orders like cream windows or mock sash horns are becoming more popular.

When it comes to other materials, both timber and aluminium have both gone through similar processes. Timber however has always looked roughly the same. Similar profiles depths, small sculptured edges and standard colours have been the mainstay. However changes in how the timber is put together, such as engineered timber windows means they have been given a bit of a revamp.

Early aluminium was plagued with drab flat looks, a dull grey metal surrounded by thin hardwood frames. We still take out a lot of those types of windows today. But even this material has gone through it’s own looks revolution with excellent wood grain effects, a sculptured frame option, every colour option under the sun a good energy efficiency ratings.

If you were to put the latest versions of PVCu, aluminium and timber together, there wouldn’t be very many differences and they would all look very similar. But I think PVCu has come along the most. There are some companies who have really spent good money, time and effort to create profiles that hark back to the days of artistic hardwood frames and match the same detailing.