The vineyard view, kept. The four-o’clock sun, stopped at the glass.

Usually, yes, and we build that into the process rather than treat it as a surprise. Most estates around Val de Vie and Pearl Valley ask for anything visible from outside — an awning fabric, a roller shutter box, an external venetian colour — to follow the estate’s own design guidelines before installation. Where we already know the approved palette and profile for an estate we quote straight to it; where we don’t, we hand you a specification sheet to submit, which usually adds a week rather than weeks. Anything fitted purely on the inside of the glass rarely needs sign-off at all.

Layers, in that order. Stop what you can outside the glass first — external venetians, roller shutters, a zip screen or an awning — because once the sun has crossed the pane the heat is already in the room. Then control what’s left inside with a sunscreen fabric that keeps the vine rows and the mountains in view, or a blockout where a room genuinely needs to go dark. Most vineyard-facing specifications here end up as one external product paired with one internal one, and a consultant reads the actual elevation at the measure before recommending either.

Not the ones we fit, and we would rather be plain about it. Our roller shutters are shading shutters: rigid aluminium slats outside the glass that stop sun, heat, glare and light, and give you a dark, cool, quiet room. Security-rated shutters are a different product with a different frame and fixing, available on request — but we will never let a shading shutter be mistaken for something it isn’t.

Almost everything, and retrofitting is easier than most people expect. Rechargeable tube motors need no wiring at all, so an existing blind can usually be motorised without opening a wall or a ceiling. Wired motors suit a renovation, where power can reach the head of the window while things are already open. We would typically motorise the high glass, the sun-side windows, and anything external, and happily leave a guest cloakroom blind on a chain.

Regularly — it’s some of our favourite work on the estate. Folding-arm awnings and zip screens turn a pool pavilion or tasting deck into a room you can actually use through a Boland summer: shade on demand, wind cut, insects out, view kept. Both retract, so the same structure that shelters a July lunch does not rob a June afternoon of its winter sun.

The in-home measure is free and carries no obligation. A consultant comes to you with samples, measures every opening properly and reads the light in the room at the hour that matters. You then get a written quote itemised per window, so you can see what each one costs and remove any of them. Because everything is made to measure, that is the only honest way to price it — there is no price list that would tell you the truth.