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Neutral living room styled with soft textiles and natural light

The Lusso journal

Notes from the trade

Honest, practical writing about window furnishings — how to choose fabric, what actually affects light and heat, and the details most people only learn after they have already ordered.

Living room with layered sheer and blockout window treatments

Featured Styling 28 July 2026

Sheer vs blockout curtains: which should you choose?

They solve different problems at different times of day, so choosing between them is usually the wrong question. Sheers handle glare and daytime privacy; blockouts handle sleep, heat and night-time privacy. Run sheer and blockout curtains on a double track and you get four distinct settings from one window — instead of the usual compromise where the curtains stay half-drawn all year.

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An aluminium venetian blind lowered over a laundry window above a stainless trough, slats tilted part open

11 September 2026 4 min read

Laundry Blinds: What Fits and What Lasts in There

The water comes off the dryer, not the tap, and the window winder decides the fit. What we would hang in a laundry, and the three things we would not.

A sheer curtain drawn fully closed across a tall living room window, with heavier curtains stacked at each side

10 September 2026 8 min read

Privacy Curtains: What Actually Blocks the View

Which fabrics and linings stop a view, why fullness barely helps, and the four edges where the privacy you paid for actually leaks out.

A cordless roller blind lowered over a child's bedroom window with no chain at either bracket

11 September 2026 8 min read

Child safe blinds: an Australian parent’s guide

The law sets two numbers and one force. Which mechanisms are genuinely cord free, what a tensioner has to be screwed into, and what you can’t retrofit.

A roller blind lowered halfway across a living room window

8 September 2026 7 min read

Verosol vs Luxaflex: an installer's comparison

One brand invented metallised fabric, the other sells a wide catalogue. The published warranties decoded, and the reason an internal blind of either brand is working at a disadvantage.

Full-height modern curtains falling in even wave folds from a ceiling-fixed track in a living room

7 September 2026 11 min read

Modern curtains: four decisions, not a fabric

Track height, heading, layering and colour — the four choices that decide whether a curtain reads as modern, what the wave fold costs in fabric, and the three rooms where it is the wrong call.

A roller blind lowered across a wide living-room window, the fabric running off a single tube

6 September 2026 5 min read

What is a Holland blind?

It is a roller blind, and the name comes from a real fabric. Where Holland cloth came from, the difference several sites invented between the two, and the choices that genuinely change how the blind performs.

A folding arm awning extended from a house wall to shade a timber deck

6 September 2026 7 min read

External awnings: which type suits your window

Fixed, folding arm or straight drop — and why the direction your window faces settles it before fabric comes up. Plus the wind load competitors describe backwards.

Bedroom with floor-length curtains hung close to the ceiling beside a made bed

6 September 2026 8 min read

Bedroom curtain ideas that actually darken a room

How dark the room has to be, why the sheer belongs behind the blockout, and the three places light actually gets in. With the fullness numbers most guides leave out.

A sheer curtain and a blockout curtain layered on a double track at a living room window

6 September 2026 8 min read

Double Curtains: How to Hang Two Layers Properly

Double curtains hang a sheer behind a blockout on one track. Which layer goes in front, what the track has to clear, and what the second layer really costs.

Wide shutter louvres tilted slightly open in a solid frame inside a window reveal

4 September 2026 9 min read

What are plantation shutters?

Wide louvres, a solid frame, and the two things nobody writes down: what actually fails first near the water, and why we do not sell them.

A kitchen window with a wipe-clean blind above the bench

4 September 2026 8 min read

Kitchen window coverings: grease, heat and cleaning

Cooking aerosolises oil, so the film reaches the whole room, not just the wall behind the hob. What belongs at a kitchen window, and where a roman blind is still fine.

A roller blind lowered across a tall living room window in daylight

5 September 2026 7 min read

Privacy Blinds: What Actually Works After Dark

Privacy blinds solve two different problems, and they swap over at dusk. What works in daylight, what works after dark, and the openness number to ask for.

Louvred shutter panels fitted to a pair of French doors opening onto a garden

5 September 2026 9 min read

Plantation Shutters on Doors: What Works, What Doesn't

Plantation shutters work on doors, but the handle and the swing decide it. Bypass, bifold or hinged for sliding and French doors, and what we fit instead.

How to Measure for Roller Blinds, Step by Step — Lusso window furnishings

4 September 2026 8 min read

How to Measure for Roller Blinds, Step by Step

How to measure for roller blinds like an installer: reveal fit vs face fix, three widths, the drop, bracket clearance, roll direction and cord-safety rules.

Louvred shutter panels hinged back from the reveal of a sunlit living-room window

5 September 2026 8 min read

How Much Do Plantation Shutters Cost? An Honest Price Guide

Plantation shutters cost $300 to $1,500 a window in Australia, and both ends are true. Here is why, what a whole house comes to, and what the quote leaves out.

Sheer curtain fabric hanging in soft folds with daylight passing through

4 September 2026 8 min read

Sheer Curtain Fabric: Voile, Linen and What Lasts

Voile, linen and the blends between them. What each does to light, which ones survive Australian UV, and why fullness matters more than the fabric you pick.

A bathroom window with polymer shutters angled for privacy and light

4 September 2026 8 min read

Bathroom Window Coverings That Survive Humidity

What lasts in a Queensland bathroom and what quietly rots: why polymer beats timber, why we avoid cellular blinds here, and where the mould actually starts.

A floor-length curtain held back clear of a window

3 September 2026 8 min read

Curtain tiebacks and holdbacks: do you need them?

One wraps around the curtain, the other is hardware it tucks behind. Where they go in millimetres, and the honest reason most curtains on a runnered track never get either.

A dual roller blind with a sunscreen layer in front of a blockout layer

3 September 2026 9 min read

Dual roller blinds: day and night on one bracket

Two blinds, one bracket, four settings. Which fabrics to pair, the reveal-depth constraint no other page mentions, and when a sheer curtain is the better buy.

A blind hanging at an open window with the bottom rail free to swing

3 September 2026 7 min read

How to stop blinds banging in the wind

Every fix online is a patch on the same problem: the blind is held at the top and bottom only. The quick fixes ranked by how long they last, and the change that ends it.

An outdoor blind lowered across an alfresco opening at dusk

3 September 2026 9 min read

Alfresco blinds compared: cafe, straight drop and zip track

Three ways to hang fabric across an outdoor opening, and only one seals the sides. What that changes in wind, rain and insects — with the wind-tunnel figure quoted properly.

A living room window dressed with both a blind and floor-length curtains

3 September 2026 11 min read

Types of curtains and blinds

Nine kinds of blind, three curtain headings, two fabric families and one shutter — what each is genuinely good at, and the two categories we deliberately do not sell.

A sunscreen roller blind lowered across a window with the view still visible through the weave

3 September 2026 8 min read

Sunscreen blinds and openness factor

Openness is the one number that decides how the blind behaves. What 1%, 3%, 5% and 10% each do — and why the American advice about north-facing windows is backwards here.

A sheer curtain hanging in front of a blind at a living room window

2 September 2026 9 min read

Blinds with sheer curtains: how to layer both

Each layer does the job the other does badly. What goes in front, what the opening has to give you, and why the rod advice on every other page does not apply here.

An alfresco terrace in the shade cast by a lowered outdoor blind

2 September 2026 5 min read

Do outdoor blinds reduce heat?

The 90% everyone quotes comes from a government shading guide, not a product test. What outdoor blinds actually do about heat, and the wind and rain numbers no competitor prints.

A living room with a roller blind at one window and vertical blinds drawn across the sliding door beside it

10 September 2026 10 min read

Roller blinds vs vertical blinds: which fits your opening?

The width of the opening decides it, not the style. Where a roller runs out at about three metres, why a damaged vane is a small job and a damaged roller is a new blind, and which belongs on a sliding door.

A roller blind lowered across a wide living-room window in daylight

10 September 2026 9 min read

How much do blinds cost?

Australian guides price blinds from $36 to $1,100 a window and all of them are right. Why the ranges disagree, the line items that actually move a quote, and what to check before you pay a deposit.

A double curtain track carrying a sheer on the rear channel and a blockout on the front channel above a living room window

12 September 2026 11 min read

Double curtain track: how to choose the right one

Two channels, one bracket line, and a clearance figure nobody measures properly. One double track or two singles, ceiling or face fix, and why two corded channels is the wrong specification.

A wave fold curtain running on a ceiling-fixed track across a wide living room window

11 September 2026 13 min read

Curtains on a track: what works and what doesn't

The track decides the heading, and the heading decides the price. Which curtains run on runners, the fullness ratios nobody publishes, and why an eyelet curtain will never go on one.

Flat fabric panels stacked on a multi-channel top track beside an open sliding glass door

1 September 2026 6 min read

Blinds for sliding doors: what actually works

The covering has to survive being walked through several times a day. Which of the five options suits your opening, where a roller blind runs out of width, and the stackback decision nobody can fix afterwards.

Warm off-white curtains hanging full height in a sunlit living room

31 August 2026 8 min read

How to choose curtain colour

Why the swatch in your hand is already lying to you: fullness darkens every colour by a couple of shades, the light your window faces changes it again, and the Australian sun rewrites it a third time. Room by room, plus what the street actually sees.

An outdoor blind lowered across an alfresco opening beside a dining setting

31 August 2026 10 min read

ZipScreen vs Ziptrak

One holds the fabric with a welded zip, the other with a welded spline. What each manufacturer actually publishes, why the wind ratings you read online contradict each other, and what your body corporate has to approve first.

A living room with a roller blind fitted in one reveal and floor-length curtains at the opening beside it

26 August 2026 7 min read

Blinds vs curtains: how to choose, room by room

The opening decides it, not the product. What each one does better, why the heat argument is really an installation argument, and the cord rule that settles a child’s room.

Curtains at one window and a roller blind at the next, in the same living room

21 August 2026 6 min read

What is a window treatment?

It is the American word for window furnishings, and the search results are American too. The four families explained for an Australian house — which way the window faces, and the cord law that decides a child’s room.

A capped pelmet box above full-length curtains running down to the floor

20 August 2026 5 min read

Do thermal curtains actually work?

Up to 87% of an Australian home's heat arrives through the windows. What the lining actually contributes, why the pelmet matters more than the fabric, and the point at which a curtain is the second-best answer.

Vertical blind louvres angled open, showing the garden beyond

18 August 2026 6 min read

How to clean blinds without wrecking them

Dust monthly, wet-clean twice a year, and never soak a blockout roller. A type-by-type method for rollers, venetians, verticals, Romans and honeycombs — plus the mould routine, which is really a ventilation problem in disguise.

Close detail of a heavy interlined curtain, raking light showing the thickness of the folds

18 August 2026 7 min read

Do acoustic curtains actually reduce noise?

They work on the noise you hear and do nothing to the noise you feel. Why the decibel claims are worthless, the ten-second test for your own street, and when the honest answer is to fix the glazing instead.

Timber venetian blind slats tilted open over a garden view

12 August 2026 9 min read

Venetian blinds: timber, aluminium or PVC?

The room decides the material, not your taste — timber warps in steam, aluminium dents, PVC sags on long runs. Plus the slat width to pick, where to mount them, and why no venetian blind will ever truly black out a bedroom.

A triple pinch pleat curtain heading, fabric stitched into groups of three folds and hooked onto a ceiling track

14 August 2026 7 min read

Pinch pleat vs pencil pleat vs S-fold curtains

The heading sets how the fabric falls, how much fabric you pay for and how much window you lose when the curtain is open. Including the stackback numbers nobody publishes — and what has to be in your ceiling to hold the track up.

Minimal wall with a clock and small plant

Guides

16 June 2026 5 min read

A plain-English guide to blind openness factors

1%, 3%, 5%, 10% — the number on a screen fabric sample tells you how much you will see out, how much glare gets through, and how much privacy you keep after dark. Here is how to pick.

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Calm bedroom corner with textured furnishings

Styling

29 May 2026 7 min read

Measuring up: five mistakes we see every week

Measuring the frame instead of the finished wall. Forgetting cornice depth. Ignoring stack space. If you are getting quotes from more than one supplier, these are the errors worth checking for.

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Sofa in a bright room with a textured throw

Fabrics & care

12 May 2026 4 min read

How to care for linen and velvet curtains

Never machine wash interlined drapery. Vacuum on low with a brush head. Steam vertically, never press. A short, practical care routine that keeps a good curtain looking new for a decade.

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Living room styled with cushions and layered textiles

Styling

28 April 2026 6 min read

Matching window furnishings without matching everything

Pulling cushions, bedheads and curtains from one fabric library is how a room reads as designed. Pulling them all in the same colour is how it reads as a showroom. The difference is in the weave.

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Dining space with curtains beside a window

Fabrics & care

9 April 2026 5 min read

Why fabric looks different at home than in the showroom

Showroom lighting is warm, even and controlled. Your north-facing living room is none of those things. Always live with a sample for a few days before you commit — here is what to watch for.

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A metal curtain rod carrying rings, with a ball finial and wall bracket, above a window

14 August 2026 8 min read

Curtain rods vs tracks: which should you choose?

One is chosen for how it looks, the other for what it has to hold. What each system carries, which headings fit which, and the fixing question that quietly decides it.

Modern living space with automated window treatments

Guides

2 March 2026 7 min read

Is motorisation worth it? An honest assessment

For high windows, wide spans and anything above a stairwell, yes — comfortably. For a single bedroom window you walk past every morning, probably not. Where the money is genuinely well spent.

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