Blinds & shading for Plattekloof

New — our free Durbanville Window Field Guide reads the light on a wine-valley home elevation by elevation, then hands you a two-minute ballpark or a free measure at the end.

Plattekloof was built for the view — Table Mountain across the Cape Flats, the full sweep of it, from entry-level homes right up through the ridge's more substantial mansions. That's a genuine selling point, and it also means a lot of Plattekloof living rooms and main bedrooms are floor-to-ceiling glass facing straight into the western sun for a good part of every afternoon.

The Plattekloof brief, honestly

• West-facing view glass — the same orientation that delivers the mountain view delivers serious afternoon heat and glare; sunscreen roller fabrics and cellular blinds are the standard honest answer here.
• Exterior shading for the harder cases — on the biggest picture windows and glass walls, external venetians stop the heat at the glass rather than managing it once it's already inside, which a purely interior approach can't match.
• Motorisation as the practical default — wide, tall Plattekloof glazing is frequently too big for a hand-operated blind to make sense of; remote, app or sun-sensor control is often simply the right spec, not an upsell.
• Wind exposure on the ridge — being up on the ridge means real wind; any exterior product here goes out with a wind sensor and a proper site assessment.

Because Plattekloof sits just over the ridge from Durbanville, a free measure here is a short trip, and we're used to working around the specific geometry of a mountain-facing wall of glass.