The clean, made-to-measure answer for wide paddock-facing glass

Blockout, sunscreen or both

Blockout fabric is the specification for a main bedroom or media room — total darkness, no borrowed light from the driveway or a neighbouring stable light at night. Sunscreen fabric does the opposite job: it cuts glare and heat on a paddock-facing wall of glass while keeping the view intact, which is usually the brief on Inanda's biggest living-area windows. A double-roller system runs both fabrics on one headrail where a room genuinely needs each at different times of day.

Cassette, pelmet or open roll

A cassette or pelmet valance hides the tube completely, with the fascia colour-matched to the window frame for a finished look. An open roll is the simpler, lower-cost option where the mechanism sitting visible above the glass isn't a concern — a common choice on a utility room or stable-side window rather than the main entertaining spaces.

Where it earns its place on Inanda's stands

Roller blinds suit almost every opening on a stand this size — bedrooms, studies, and the wide sliding walls that open onto a paddock view. On spans wider than a standard window or mounted above head height, motorised control is worth discussing at the measure visit rather than leaving a long chain within reach.

Honest limitations

A single roller only does one job well — blockout or sunscreen, not both at once, unless it's a double-roller system. On very wide spans a roller has a practical width limit before the fabric needs splitting across two or more blinds, which a consultant will flag on site rather than after the fact.

• Chain, spring-assist or motorised control
• Cassette or pelmet valance to hide the tube, fascia colour-matched to frames
• Chain tensioners fitted as standard for child safety

What it costs

Guide figures, per square metre, installed. A hand-operated roller — chain or spring, in blockout, sunscreen or a light-filtering fabric — comes to R1,000 to R1,600 per square metre. A plain blockout sits low in that band; a premium mesh, a cassette or a double bracket carrying two fabrics sits high in it. With a motor in the tube, that window moves to R2,500 to R3,800 per square metre.

Small windows carry a minimum charge, since the tube, the brackets and the fitting time barely change with width. This is a band to plan against rather than a price: each opening is worked out at the free measure and given to you in writing before anything is ordered.

Where we fit roller blinds

Roller blinds are the everyday workhorse across every stand we measure — blockout in the bedrooms, sunscreen on the paddock-facing glass — fitted just as often in Hyde Park, Sandhurst and Atholl as they are here, plus the high-volume runs we do across Bryanston's clusters.