Shade You Can Put Away
A folding arm awning throws shade over a deck with nothing standing on it — no posts, no frame, and it folds back to the wall when you want the winter sun again. We make them to the opening, fit them ourselves, and have been doing externals across Brisbane since 1978.
Why Lusso, Brisbane
An awning is a horizontal answer. Half of Brisbane has a vertical problem.
A folding arm awning is the right call over a north-facing deck, and I will happily sell you one — nothing else gives you that much shade with nothing standing in the way of it. But if your worst hours are three to five on a west wall, a projection is fighting a sun that is coming in almost sideways, and you will be disappointed. We would rather tell you that at the measure than after the install.
The range
Local conditions
North is easy. West is the one people get wrong.
Shading is a geometry problem before it is a product problem, and the government's own passive design guidance puts it plainly: a horizontal projection works on a northern aspect because the summer sun is high overhead, and struggles on an eastern or western one because the sun is low. Brisbane's misery hours are the back half of a summer afternoon, when the sun is dropping into the west and coming at the house nearly level. An awning projecting three metres out from that wall casts most of its shade onto the neighbour's lawn.
So the first question we ask is which wall, and the second is what is behind the cladding. A folding arm awning has no posts — that is the whole point of it — so every kilogram of it, plus whatever the wind does, is carried by two brackets bolted to your wall. On a rendered blockwork townhouse that is straightforward. On a hundred-year-old timber Queenslander it means finding real structure behind the chamferboard, and sometimes it means we say no to the spot you wanted and yes to one 400mm along.
Neither of those conversations happens over the phone, which is why we come and look before we quote rather than after.
The detail that matters
Awnings do not tear. They lift.
The failure mode nobody writes about is uplift, not fabric, and it is the reason the habit matters more than the spec sheet.
Wind that gets underneath an extended awning does not push it back against the wall — it lifts it, and everything that lift does ends up in two brackets and the wall behind them. That is why awnings fail at the fixing rather than in the fabric, and why the pitch we set it at is a wind decision as much as a shade one. A shallower pitch sheds less water; a steeper one gives the wind less to get under.
A Brisbane summer storm arrives faster than anyone gets home, and an awning left out in one is the single most common way they are destroyed. Nobody selling awnings likes saying it, so it turns up in the warranty instead of on the page. If the awning is somewhere you cannot get to quickly, that is a genuine argument for a motor with a wind sensor — and it is a decision for the quote, because the drive is built in when the awning is made.
Where the sun is low and the wind is regular, a vertical blind that comes down the opening does what a horizontal awning cannot, and it can be left down. That is the job outdoor blinds in Brisbane and track-guided ZipScreen are built for. We fit both, so we have no reason to talk you into the wrong one.
Gold Coast clients
They came back for the second lot
On anything bolted to the outside of a house, the install is most of what you are buying. These are three of the 85 reviews on file.
We could not have been happier with the service we received from Deb & Lusso. She was incredibly helpful, knowledgeable and gave us clear direction. They followed through on absolutely everything discussed and the installation went off without a hitch.
Tony Duncombe
I would highly recommend lusso for all your window covering requirements. They are a truly professional group providing great customer service together with expert installers you can't go wrong
Liz Saunders
Our second purchase of Lusso Blinds with Deb resulted in further professional and most satisfactory service and product installation. We have no hesitation in recommending Deb and the great range of blinds she has on offer and competitively priced to boot.
Pam & Brian Russell
Where they go
And where I would send you elsewhere
The case an awning was invented for. High summer sun, a projection that shades the whole deck at the hottest part of the day, and it folds away in June when you want the warmth back.
QuoteShade over a footpath dining area that retracts overnight, with the option of printing onto the fabric. Longer spans and daily use, so specify the drive and the cassette properly.
QuoteA small fixed awning above the glass stops the morning sun before it lands on it, which internal roller blinds can never do. Cheap, permanent, and it does not need anyone to remember it.
QuoteSay no, or at least say not on its own. Low afternoon sun goes straight under a projection — you want something that drops down the opening, and we will quote that instead.
QuoteA holiday house or a deck you cannot reach in a hurry. If it will not be rolled in before a storm, either motorise it with a wind sensor or fit something fixed.
QuoteHow it works
Three steps, quote in 48 hours
We come to you right across Brisbane. Detailed quote within 24 to 48 hours, valid for 30 days — no deposit to get a price.
We need the dimensions and the aspect of the opening, and on an awning we need to see what we are fixing into.
Itemised component by component, and valid for 30 days. The lead time for your job is on the quote.
Nothing starts until you are comfortable with the selections. Workmanship is warranted for 12 months from installation.
Where we work
We come to the wall
From Byron Bay to Brisbane, across the whole Gold Coast and inland to the hinterland. If you're anywhere on that stretch, we'll come to you.
Before you ask
A folding arm awning is retractable: articulated arms push the fabric out over a deck and fold it back to the wall when you are done, so you choose your shade day by day and get the winter sun back. A fixed awning stays where it is — usually a smaller unit above a window, permanently stopping sun before it reaches the glass.
We fit both. Retractable suits an outdoor living space you use differently through the year; fixed suits a window that gets hammered every morning and needs nobody to remember it.
Far enough that projection is rarely the constraint on a domestic job — what actually limits it is the wall, the fixing and the exposure. Brisbane competitors publish figures in the region of 3.5 to 4 metres of projection on widths from about 5.5 to 8 metres, which gives you the shape of the market.
We will not quote you a number for your opening before we have looked at it, because on a cantilever the honest limit comes from what we are bolting to, not from the catalogue.
Extended, no — and nobody should tell you otherwise. Retracted against the wall, it is in the safest position it can be in and generally rides the storm out fine.
That is the whole discipline of owning one. A summer storm here builds and arrives quickly, so the awning wants to be in before the front, not while it is overhead. If that is not realistic for where yours is going, say so at the measure and we will talk about a wind sensor or a fixed alternative instead.
Not for ordinary weather — that is what it is for. The rule is about wind rather than routine: roll it in if you are leaving for a stretch in storm season, or if the forecast has a front in it.
If the awning is on a holiday house, a high deck or anywhere you cannot get to in a hurry, a motor with a wind sensor removes the judgement call. It has to be specified when the awning is made, though, so it belongs on the original quote rather than a later phone call.
Usually, but where it goes is decided by structure and not by where the furniture is. Chamferboard and VJ lining carry nothing; we are looking for the framing behind them, and on a hundred-year-old house that framing is not always where the drawings say.
Sometimes that means the awning lands a little off from the spot you had in mind. We would rather move it 400mm and have it still on the wall in ten years. Our warranty specifically does not cover a failure caused by an inadequate fixing substrate we were told to proceed on anyway, which is exactly why we would rather have the argument first.
Mostly not, and this is the one thing I would want you to take from this page. A horizontal projection shades well when the sun is high and poorly when it is low, and a Brisbane summer afternoon puts the sun low in the west from about three o'clock.
For a west-facing opening the thing that works is something that comes down — an outdoor blind or a track-guided screen across the opening, or on the glass itself one of the indoor blinds we make for Brisbane houses. We fit those too, so there is nothing in it for us either way.
Not a figure I will give you before measuring. Span, drive type, cassette and fabric each move the price substantially, and a number quoted without them is a number designed to get someone in your door.
The quote is free, itemised component by component and valid for 30 days. There is no deposit to get a price — the 50% falls due when you accept, not when you ask.
Yes, and on a wide awning or one that is awkward to reach it is money well spent. The catch is timing: the drive is chosen when the awning is built, so it is a decision for the quote rather than something to add later. Retrofitting a motor to an existing awning is rarely worth doing.
Get in touch
Free measure & quote, Gold Coast wide
Tell us which rooms and we'll come to you with the fabric range, measure properly, and tell you honestly which windows need side tracks and which don't.
