Curtains and blinds, working together.

A single layer forces a compromise. Blockout curtains give you darkness and warmth, but the only settings are open and shut, so at 4pm on a hot February afternoon with the sun straight into the west-facing living room you either cop the glare or close the room into darkness. A sheer alone gives you softness and daytime privacy but no darkness and almost no thermal benefit. Neither does the whole job on a room you actually live in.

Putting a blind behind the curtains splits the two functions. Through the day the roller does the work: pull down a light-filter or sunscreen to cut glare while keeping the outlook, or a blockout to kill an afternoon sun problem entirely, all without touching the drapes. At night the curtains close over the top and do what they are good at, which is sealing the window and holding heat in. The two layers are used at different times of day rather than fighting each other.

The usual configurations

• Blockout roller behind lined curtains. The workhorse for bedrooms. The roller handles daytime naps and shift work, the curtains handle winter nights and the look of the room.
• Blockout roller behind sheers. The most popular living room answer in the newer estates. Sheers stay closed most of the time for softness and daytime privacy, the roller drops behind them when the sun swings west.
• Sunscreen roller behind drapes. Where the view matters. A sunscreen weave cuts glare and UV while you can still see the garden, and the drapes close it all down after dark.
• Roller plus curtains under one pelmet. A single pelmet hides the roller bracket and the curtain track together, which seals the top of the window and tidies the whole thing up in one line item.

Where it suits

West and north-facing living rooms are the strongest case anywhere in Pakenham, because the summer afternoon sun is low, harsh and directly into the glass, while the same window is the biggest heat loss in the house come July. A combination covers both seasons properly.

Bedrooms in the newer estates are the second case, particularly where a room is used for daytime sleep. Main bedrooms and media rooms with tall floor to ceiling glass are the third, since they usually want a soft daytime look and total darkness on demand. Where the window is a bay, the same logic applies but the hardware is different, so see bay window curtains. If cost is the constraint and darkness is the only goal, a single blockout curtain done properly is the better value.

How we measure and fit it

The blind is measured first, because it decides everything else. Reveal fit is preferred, with the blind sitting inside the window opening close to the glass so it creates its own air pocket and stays tucked behind the drapes. Where the reveal is too shallow or an existing architrave is in the way, the blind is face fixed above the opening and we measure its total projection including brackets.

The curtain track is then set out from the wall far enough to clear the blind and its hardware at full extension, so the curtains never catch on it. Fullness is still 2 times so the drape folds and closes flat, and both ends still carry a return to the wall. On a combination the return matters even more, because there are now two layers of hardware to hide and two edges where light can escape. Hems run to the floor on the curtains regardless of where the blind finishes.

Lead time, price and care

Allow 3 to 5 weeks, the same as any made-to-measure curtain, with the blind made over the same period. The $400 to $1,100 band covers both layers on one window, which is normally cheaper than dressing the same opening twice, since the installation visit and the pelmet are shared. Full bands for every option are on the 2026 pricing page.

For care, wipe the blind fabric with a damp cloth and let it dry fully down before rolling it up, because rolling a damp blind is what causes the mottled marks people blame on the fabric. Vacuum the curtains with a soft brush head twice a year and do not machine wash anything lined. Run the roller and the curtains through their full travel occasionally even in the seasons you are not using them, which keeps the mechanism free and the folds sitting properly.