Roller blinds
A single fabric panel on a neat roll — the simplest and most versatile blind we fit, and usually the least expensive way to control light in a room.
The decision that matters is not the colour, it is the fabric grade: how much light you want to keep and how much you want gone.
Roller blinds we have fitted
Our own installations. Worth looking at what the blinds are doing in each room rather than just the colour.
Choosing the fabric grade
Fabrics are graded by how much light they let through, then by colour and texture within each grade. Get the grade right first and the colour choice becomes easy.
Sheer
Softens the light and keeps the view. Good where you want daytime privacy without shutting the room in.
Dim-out
Cuts most of the light. The middle ground, and the one most people end up with in living rooms.
Solar screen
Cuts glare and much of the heat while you can still see out. The right answer for a west-facing room.
Blackout
Stops the light almost entirely. Bedrooms, nurseries and media rooms.
Two blinds on one bracket — sunshade by day, blackout by night
A double roller is two separate roller blinds on a single double bracket set at the same window. The usual combination is a solar screen or sunshade fabric on the back roller and a blockout on the front.
During the day you pull down the sunshade: glare and heat cut, view kept. At night you pull down the blockout: full privacy and darkness. They work independently, so you can run either on its own or both together.
Where it earns its money
West-facing living rooms and bedrooms with a view. Anywhere you want the outlook during the day and real darkness at night.
Not the same as dual vision
A dual vision is one blind of banded fabric and never fully blacks out. A double roller is two real blinds, so blackout means blackout.
What to expect on cost
You are buying two blinds and a heavier bracket, so it costs more than a single roller. Ask us to quote both so you can see the difference.
Be realistic about heat
A solar screen fabric cuts glare and much of the heat, but no roller fabric stops radiant heat completely. A sunny window will still feel warm through the blind.
Blinds are made for light control, privacy and decoration rather than as primary sun barriers, and sustained heat above roughly 35°C can make any blind material lose its shape — which manufacturers exclude from warranty.
The best thing you can do for a blind on a sunny window is a UV blocking tint on the glass. It takes the ultraviolet out before it reaches the fabric, which is what does the damage over the years. You can get clear tinting that cuts UV without changing how the window looks, so it does not have to darken the room. The tint handles the sun and the blind handles the light.
Specification
Looking after them
A roller blind cannot be washed. It does not go in a machine, and the fabric cannot be taken off the tube to be cleaned separately — so all cleaning happens in place, on the window.
Roll the blind fully down and vacuum it gently with a brush attachment on low suction. Spot clean a mark with a cloth barely damp with clean water, working from the outside of the mark inwards, and leave the blind down until it is completely dry.
Never soak or scrub the fabric. Many carry a coating that scrubbing takes off, and a fabric rolled up while damp will grow mould along the roll where you cannot see it.
Questions we get about roller blinds
Mine will not hold its position any more
That is the clutch or the chain mechanism, not the fabric. It is a mechanism replacement rather than a new blind, so keep the fabric and call us. More on repairs →
There are marks along the roll
The blind was rolled up damp, and mould has grown where the fabric was in contact with itself. Always leave a blind down to dry fully after cleaning, or after a wet window.
Can I get one for a very wide door?
Up to a point. Very wide openings are usually better served by verticals or panel blinds, both of which are built for width and stack clear of the doorway. We will tell you which suits your opening when we measure. See vertical blinds →
Is motorisation worth it?
On high or hard to reach windows, on very wide blinds, and on anything you would otherwise just leave shut — yes. On a normal bedroom window within arm's reach, probably not.