Day & night (zebra) blinds
Alternating sheer and solid bands on one continuous loop — align them for filtered light and a view-with-privacy look, offset them for close to full coverage. It's become the default for family living rooms and dining rooms that face the street or a neighbouring double storey.
- Not true blockout — even fully offset, light seeps at the band edges. Bedrooms needing real darkness want a blockout roller or a layered solution instead.
- Sheer bands are delicate — worth knowing in a home with pets or small hands at reach height.
- Standard roller hardware — chain (child-safe tensioner fitted) or motorised, with cassette options and inside or outside mount.
Timber & aluminium venetians
Where a Craighall Park home still has its original 1960s-70s windows, venetians usually earn their keep. Timber (50mm basswood) slats suit those original rooms and studies where a hard plastic finish never looked right; aluminium slats (25mm or 50mm) are the practical, moisture-proof choice for bathrooms, kitchens and sculleries.
- The real selling point — a venetian steers light direction, not just on/off: tilt up for glare-free daylight, tilt down for privacy from an overlooking window, close flat for full dark.
- Timber is heavier than aluminium — very wide windows may need splitting or ladder-tape support; we'll size that honestly at the measure.
Zebra blinds and venetians solve slightly different problems. If the goal is "soften the light without going dark," a zebra blind usually wins. If the goal is "let me choose exactly how much anyone can see in," a venetian wins — we'll talk through which each window actually needs.
What these cost, by product
Guides, per square metre installed. A chain-driven day & night blind prices at R1,300 to R2,000, lighter filtering bands cheapest and semi-blockout bands with a cassette head dearest; motorised, R2,800 to R4,000. Aluminium venetians of 25mm or 50mm price at R1,000 to R1,500 hand-operated and R2,500 to R3,600 motorised. Timber venetians, heavier and hand-finished, price at R1,600 to R2,600 hand-operated and R3,000 to R4,500 motorised.
Two notes. A banded blind carries double the fabric of a plain roller on the same tube, which is most of why it prices above one. And a narrow window costs more per square metre than a wide one, so tiny openings attract a minimum. None of this is a quotation: your figure per window comes out of the free measure and goes into writing before an order is placed.