Blinds and exterior shading for Gordon’s Bay homes — the harbour view, without the glare bouncing back off the water.
Made-to-measure blinds, exterior shading and awnings for homes above Gordon's Bay's small-craft harbour — measured on site, fitted by our own team, specified for salt air and the south-easter before a single bracket goes in.
Every window, angled for this harbour.
Some Gordon's Bay homes sit low near the water and catch a straight line to the harbour mouth and the fishing fleet; others climb the mountainside above and trade that closeness for more wind and a longer view. Twelve ways to spec it, made to measure for the opening in front of you.
Sunscreen Roller Blinds
A fine mesh that holds the line to the harbour mouth while it cuts the glare bouncing straight back off the water. Down here the light arrives twice — once out of the sky, once off the bay — and a solid blind that fixes the second one usually costs you the view that made you buy the house.
- Openness factor chosen window by window, so the fishing fleet stays readable through the mesh
- Sealed cassette and seaside-rated brackets on anything within reach of spray
- Child-safe chain tensioner fitted as standard, not as an extra
Eleven more specifications we fit around this bay — inside the glass and outside it.
Blockout & Double Roller Blinds
Total dark for bedrooms, or blockout and sunscreen on one bracket — the harbour view by day, real privacy after dark.
03
Day/Night (Zebra) Blinds
Tune the light band by band without raising the whole blind — privacy from the street, view to the water.
04
Aluminium & Timber Venetian Blinds
Slim slats that steer the light and shrug off salt air far better than fabric — or warm timber for the harbourside cottages.
05
Cellular Honeycomb Blinds
Hexagonal air cells insulate a mountainside room that runs cold once the south-easter gets up.
06
Vertical & Panel Blinds
Wide vanes that tilt or draw clear across the sliding stacks common on this side of the bay.
07
Concealed Ceiling-Recess Blinds
Raised, the window shows nothing but glass and the bay — fabric drops from a hidden slot overhead.
08
Shaped & Skylight Blinds
Made to the actual opening, not trimmed to fit — for the gable and stairwell windows nobody else quotes.
09
External Venetian Blinds
Stops the heat outside the glass, on the mountainside homes that catch the sun square-on all afternoon.
10
Roller Shutters
Full external sun, glare and privacy control, closed from outside the glass. Shading, not security.
11
Folding-Arm Awnings
Turns a sun-baked terrace back into a usable room, and folds away the moment the wind picks up.
12
Zip Screens
Zipped side channels hold the mesh taut against the wind that runs straight off the bay.
Every window here answers to the same stretch of water
A harbour-facing lounge needs the glare taken off the water without losing the fishing boats and the breakwater. A street-facing bedroom needs proper dark, whatever the harbour lights below are doing. A terrace needs shade that survives a south-easter gust without flapping loose. Every one of those gets its own written answer, from one consultant on one visit.
The hardware is chosen for salt air, not just the room
Powder-coated, seaside-rated aluminium on anything mounted outside, sealed cassettes rather than open brackets, chain and cord tensioners fitted as standard, and a wind sensor on any motorised awning or zip screen so it retracts ahead of a south-easter gust rather than after one. Even the best hardware wants an occasional fresh-water rinse this close to the water — we say so rather than call anything maintenance-free.
A working harbour, a mountain wall, and a tide that tells you what to spec
Gordon's Bay sits tucked into the eastern corner of False Bay, beneath the rise of the Hottentots-Holland range, its small-craft harbour and fishing fleet giving the town its name and its rhythm. The old part of town — cottages and semi-detached houses climbing the streets nearest the harbour wall — sits close enough to the water that reflected glare off the bay is a daily fact of afternoon light, not an occasional one. Higher up the mountainside, newer homes trade that closeness for a longer, uninterrupted view down the coast towards Strand and across to the Cape Hangklip peninsula — and for a great deal more wind.
The Hottentots-Holland range takes some of the sting out of the summer south-easter here compared with the fully open Atlantic side of the peninsula, but it still runs hard along the water and funnels up the mountainside streets. Winter brings the cold fronts and north-westerly swell straight onto the harbour mouth and the beaches either side of it. Add the canal-front homes of Harbour Island, where still water off the back deck adds its own reflected glare to the usual bay-facing brief, and the practical result is that no two streets in this town want quite the same specification.
How we specify for it: harbour-facing glass low in the older part of town gets sunscreen or exterior shading first, because the glare off the water arrives before the heat does. Homes higher on the slope, more exposed to wind but further from spray, get wind-rated, sensor-retracted exterior fittings — an awning or zip screen left unprotected up there is the fitting most likely to fail first. Heritage cottages near the harbour keep their character with warm timber venetians instead of aluminium wherever the window and the budget allow it.
- Tucked beneath the Hottentots-Holland range — some shelter from the worst of the summer south-easter, still fully open to winter north-westerly fronts
- Harbourside cottages and mountainside view homes want different specs — heritage timber slats down low, wind-rated exterior fittings up high
- Salt spray reaches balconies close to the water on a blustery day; powder-coated, sealed hardware specified as standard outside
- Harbour Island's canal-front homes add reflected glare off still water to the usual harbour-facing brief
From enquiry to fitted, in four steps
Enquire
Tell us the rooms, the products you're considering, and roughly where in Gordon's Bay you are. Either the chat or the form; two minutes should do it.
Free in-home measure
A consultant comes to you, measures every opening on site, checks wind and salt exposure, and brings fabric samples.
Written quote
A quotation itemised window by window, with the lead times written in from the start, so nothing shifts between what you saw and what you pay. A bracket first: on this coast the spread is R1,000 to R7,500 a square metre installed, interior fabric at the modest end and a motorised exterior system at the far end. Openings under about a square metre carry a minimum. The true figure comes from the measure.
Made & fitted
Every piece is manufactured to your measurements and installed cleanly by our own team.
What the service actually is
Window shading, made to the size of your opening, for houses above the small-craft harbour and along this end of False Bay — Gordon’s Bay itself, plus Strand, Somerset West, Harbour Island and Erinvale. Roller blinds, venetian blinds, zip screens, roller shutters, folding-arm awnings and motorisation are each manufactured for the window they will hang in. Nothing is a standard width cut down on the day, and nothing is quoted off a photograph.
The way a job goes: an enquiry reaches us through the form or the chat, one of our expert consultants will contact you shortly, and a free in-home measure is booked. On site each opening is measured and templated, the frames and the exposure are checked, and fabric, openness, hardware and control are chosen room by room for the salt air and the wind that elevation actually takes. The written quote that follows is itemised per window with lead times stated, so nothing has to be agreed verbally. Once you approve it, everything is made to those sizes and fitted by our own team.
Details you send through the form or the chat are used to arrange that call-back and to price the work, and are handled in line with POPIA.
Gordon's Bay and the rest of the Helderberg coast
The same free-measure, written-quote process, adjusted for what each street and each home actually needs.
Before you enquire
Do you cover Strand, Somerset West and Erinvale as well as Gordon's Bay?
Yes — Gordon's Bay is our home ground, and we measure and fit across Harbour Island, Strand, Somerset West and Erinvale Golf Estate too. Sitting just beyond that list? Put it on the enquiry form and we'll confirm either way.
Will salt air ruin exterior or motorised blinds?
Cheap hardware corrodes fast this close to the water — pitted brackets and seized chains within a season or two. We specify powder-coated, seaside-rated aluminium and sealed cassettes on anything mounted outside. Even that hardware benefits from an occasional fresh-water rinse — we won't tell you it's maintenance-free.
What actually stops the afternoon glare off the water?
In order of effect: exterior shading such as external venetians, roller shutters or a zip screen (stops heat and glare at the glass), sunscreen or day-night blinds inside (cuts the load while keeping the view of the harbour), and motorisation so it happens on schedule whether you're home or not.
Are your blinds safe for small children?
Any blind with a cord or a chain gets a tensioner fitted as standard. In nurseries and children's rooms we usually steer you towards wand-tilt, cordless or motorised operation — raise it with your consultant and it goes into the quote.
Do canal-front Harbour Island homes need anything different?
Usually yes — still water off a canal-front deck reflects glare up into a room in a way an ordinary bay view doesn't, so we often spec a lower sunscreen openness there than we would a street back from the water. We check your specific aspect at the measure rather than assume.
Is there really no charge for the measure and the quote?
None at all. You pay nothing for the measure, the samples, the consultation or the written per-window quote, and you are under no obligation to order.
Your windows, measured this week.
Free in-home measure, a written per-window quote, and a consultant who already knows this harbour.
Start with the rooms and the view
Give us the rooms that are giving trouble, and the products you have in mind. One of our expert consultants will contact you shortly to arrange your free in-home measure.
- No obligation, no call-centre — a consultant calls you directly
- Fabric samples brought to the measure, not just a screen swatch
- Written, itemised quote before anything is ordered
