The fabric decision
Choosing between blockout, sunscreen and light-filtering
A roller blind is a fabric panel on an aluminium tube — spring, chain or motor driven — and the whole decision comes down to the fabric behind it. Blockout is the right call for main bedrooms and kids' rooms that back onto the street: total light stop, and a genuine thermal benefit against a Highveld summer afternoon or a highveld winter night. Sunscreen, in an openness factor of 3%, 5% or 10%, cuts glare and UV on a big lounge window while keeping the view of the garden — the lower the percentage, the more heat and glare it blocks, at the cost of a little view. It gives daytime privacy, but reverses at night once the lights are on inside, so it's usually paired with a second roller or curtains in bedrooms.
For a room that needs both — a street-facing bedroom that also wants a view during the day — a double roller puts blockout and sunscreen on one bracket, so you switch between them without swapping hardware.
Control is chain (with a wall-anchored tensioner as standard, for child safety), spring-assist, or motorised — see our motorised blinds & automation page if you're leaning that way. Cassette or pelmet valances hide the tube and can be colour-matched to the frame; single blinds run to around 3m of fabric width before a central join or a motorised, linked pair makes more sense.