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A metre from the footpath
Privacy blinds for street-facing windows in Newcastle
In the terrace streets, the front window and the footpath are close enough to shake hands. The old fixes were lace that did half the job or a blind that stayed down all day and turned the best room in the house into a cave. Privacy done properly is a layers problem, and it changes with the clock.
Privacy has a daytime answer and a night-time answer
By day, physics is on your side: it's brighter outside than in, so a light-filtering fabric or a sheer reads as a blank surface from the footpath while your room stays full of daylight. You can leave it down permanently and never feel closed in.
After dark, the same physics flips. Lights on inside make a light-filter fabric a shadow theatre for anyone walking past. So the night layer has to be denser: a blockout on the second channel of a dual roller, dropped when the lamps come on.
That pairing, light-filter over blockout on one bracket, is our standard recommendation for street-facing rooms, because it's the only single-window fix that answers both halves of the day honestly.
The venetian alternative
Where you want a sightline out, to keep an eye on kids on the footpath, or just to see the street, a venetian earns its place: tilt the slats up and passers-by see slat backs while you see the road. It's privacy you can steer by degrees rather than a fabric you raise and lower.
Fitting the old windows properly
Cooks Hill, Hamilton and Islington windows are tall, often out of square, and dressed in mouldings that deserve respect. That changes the measure, not just the look:
- Tall sashes want fabric drops and tube sizes specced for the weight, so the blind still runs smoothly years in.
- Shallow or ornate reveals often rule out a tucked-in fit; an oversized face fit on the architrave usually looks right and seals better anyway.
- Out-of-square openings are normal in hundred-year-old brick. We measure both diagonals and spec to the opening you have, not the one on the plan.
None of this is exotic; it's just the reason the measure is done by the person who'll fit the blind.
