Rivonia Blinds / What we fit / Roller blinds
Roller blinds
Roller blinds for Rivonia homes
One flat panel of fabric on a tube — the cleanest, quietest window treatment there is, and the one that solves most of Rivonia’s west-facing bedrooms.
A roller blind is exactly what it sounds like: a single smooth panel of fabric wound onto an aluminium tube, drawn down by a chain or a motor. There are no folds, no slats and no gathering — which is precisely why it looks so calm across a wall of complex windows and why it is the workhorse of almost every Rivonia unit we fit.
Everything then depends on the fabric. Blockout is a coated fabric that stops light passing through it: the standard answer for a bedroom that faces west, where the sun arrives low and hard from about three o’clock. It will not make a room pitch dark on its own — light still finds the gap between the fabric and the reveal — but fitted inside the reveal, that gap is as small as the opening allows.
Sunscreen is the opposite instinct: a tight open-weave mesh that cuts glare and a good share of the heat while you keep the view of the courtyard, the lawn or the complex garden. In a lounge or a home office it is usually the better call, because blockout there feels like switching the lights off in the middle of the afternoon.
You do not have to choose. A double bracket carries both blinds on one window: sunscreen down through the day, blockout down at night. It costs more than a single blind and it is worth it in exactly one place — the room you use in both states.
The practical detail
How we specify it here
Small decisions that decide whether you like the blind in two years’ time, not just on installation day.
- Fit inside the reveal where we can — it hides the brackets and keeps the light leak down the sides to a minimum
- Cassette or pelmet — a slim housing over the roll gives a finished edge and stops dust settling on the tube
- Chain side and wall tensioner — chosen on site so the chain lands where you reach for it — and every chain gets a tensioner as standard
- Uniform backing colour — the street side of every blind reads the same, which is what most body corporates actually care about
- Wide openings — split into two blinds on one bracket, or motorised as a linked pair, rather than fighting one very heavy roll
Not sure which fabric or which room? That is exactly the conversation the free measure is for — samples held against your own light beat any swatch on a screen.
Questions
Asked most often
Straight answers, including where the answer is “it depends on the room”.
Will a blockout roller make the room completely dark?
It makes it properly dark, not photographic-darkroom dark. Light will always find the few millimetres between fabric and frame. Fitting inside the reveal, adding a pelmet and running the blind slightly wide of the opening each cut that edge down — the consultant will tell you which of those your window allows.
Sunscreen at night — can people see in?
Yes, that is the honest answer. Sunscreen mesh works in the direction of the brighter side: during the day you see out and nobody sees in, and after dark with the lights on it reverses. If the room is used at night, that is the argument for a double blind or for blockout.
Can a roller blind be motorised later?
Usually, yes — the tube is the same, the motor replaces the chain mechanism. It is cheaper to decide up front, but it is not a decision that locks you in forever.
Keep looking
You might also want
The rest of the range, and where each one earns its place.
Where we fit them
Roller blinds across our patch
Blockout for the west bedrooms, sunscreen for the living rooms — the same roller blind we fit across Sunninghill, Morningside, Woodmead, Sandown and Gallo Manor every week.
Let’s get it measured
Tell us about
your windows.
Which rooms, which way they face, and what is actually bothering you about the light. One of our expert consultants will contact you shortly to arrange the free in-home measure.
- Free in-home measure with fabric and slat samples
- Written quote, itemised per window, no obligation
- Made to order — nothing cut down to fit
- Repairs and restringing on existing blinds too
Our consultant does five to six measures a week across this area, so the diary fills early.
Want a ballpark first? The Window Schedule carries a two-minute window list — pop in rough sizes and we’ll send a budget range by the next working day. Not sure how to measure? Leave it: our consultant measures for free and you get exact per-window pricing either way.
Would rather type than fill in a form? Open the chat and the assistant will take it from there.
Request your free measure
We answer enquiries seven days a week.
Thank you — that is with us.
One of our expert consultants will contact you shortly to arrange your free in-home measure.