The Challenge
Claire and Iain had created a warm, homely orangery that opened onto sweeping countryside views. With French doors, generous glazing and a roof lantern almost 3m wide and 7m long, the space was designed to feel bright, calm and connected to nature. It quickly became the family’s favourite room. As Claire said, “We spend most of our time in here. We eat in here. My daughter will even come to the breakfast bar to study because it’s such a lovely place to be with the light.”
But the beauty of the space came with significant challenges. From the day it was built, heat, glare and fading were constant issues. “Everything fades because of the sun,” Claire explained. “We’ve had to have our sofa recovered.” The morning sun was so intense that “we have literally worn sunglasses in the morning sometimes because it’s been that bright.”
The glare made watching TV difficult. The heat overwhelmed the room even with the doors open and the air conditioning running. And because Claire and Iain loved the clean, minimal feel of the orangery, they had no curtains or side blinds. They wanted nothing that would block the view or clutter the architecture.
They explored options, but most companies could not handle a blind of this scale. Others offered only honeycomb or concertina systems that collected flies, required joins down the middle or introduced visible cords. “I didn’t want anything to block the view,” Claire said. “I wanted it simple and minimalistic.”
For years, they lived with the discomfort because no solution felt right for their home.
The Vision
Claire and Iain wanted a single, elegant blind that could span the full 20 square metre opening without sagging, wrinkling or compromising the look of the orangery. It needed to reduce heat, eliminate glare and protect their furnishings while still allowing soft daylight through.
Aesthetics were critical. The orangery was intentionally calm and uncluttered. “We didn’t want anything to spoil the look of it and the feel of it,” Claire said. When they learned the cassette would need to be large to house such a wide and long fabric, they hesitated. Claire even mocked up the cassette in cardboard to see how it might look. “I thought I’m not going to like it. We’ll get used to it.”
What they hoped for was a blind engineered for extreme spans, with no visible cords, no joins in the fabric and enough tension to create a clean, ceiling like finish when closed. They also hoped the headbox would feel discreet once installed, even though they expected it to be a compromise. Instead, it became a pleasant surprise. As Claire later said, “We were really surprised at how unobtrusive it was. It just blends in,” confirming that the headbox they once worried about now feels completely at home in the space.
Our Solution
During their consultation with Chris, Claire and Iain discovered the Hercules roof lantern blind. It was the first system they had seen that could meet every requirement without compromise.
Hercules is engineered specifically for very large openings. It uses dimensionally stable roller fabric and a tensioning system that applies around 80 kilos of force across the span. This tension is what removes ripples, prevents sagging and creates the perfectly flat, ceiling like appearance Claire described: “It’s literally just like a ceiling as it goes across.”
The side channels play a crucial role too. They prevent the fabric from being blown out of position and guide it smoothly back and forth while keeping it perfectly aligned on the fabric tube. This eliminates telescoping and ensures the blind always travels straight and true.
The solution included:
- A single blind spanning the full 20 square metre opening
- A 1 percent openness Panama Pro fabric in white pearl for soft daylight
- A cassette designed to house the full 7m drop while remaining discreet
- Side channels that stabilise and guide the fabric with no telescoping
- High tension engineering that keeps the fabric taut and ripple free
- Smooth, quiet motorisation for effortless daily use
The fabric was especially important. Most materials cannot be manufactured at this width without joins, but the chosen fabric exceeded 3 metres allowing a flawless single piece. “No joints,” Claire said. “Just fabric. That’s all you see.”
Installation took less than a day. “Very quick, very clean, very straightforward,” Claire recalled. “The guys were brilliant.”
The Result
Although the blind was installed in winter, the transformation was already clear. The Hercules blind created a flawless false ceiling effect when closed, with no sagging, no rippling and no visible cords. The room remained bright even with the blind fully down. As Claire noted while demonstrating it, “Even when it’s closed, there’s still plenty of light through.”
The real test will come this summer, but the benefits are already certain. The 1 percent openness fabric will dramatically reduce glare, making the TV watchable again. The white pearl finish will reflect heat before it enters the room. And the family will no longer need sunglasses indoors.
Most importantly, the orangery has kept the calm, minimal aesthetic that Claire and Iain love. The blind feels integrated, discreet and part of the architecture. “Very pleasantly surprised at how inconspicuous it is,” Claire said. “It just blends in.”
The space they cherish is now ready to be enjoyed in comfort all year round.
