Timber venetians

Why timber, and why here

50mm basswood is light enough to hang straight in a tall window and dense enough to hold its tilt without rattling in a breeze. It takes stain and paint finishes properly, which matters in this suburb, where a room's joinery was chosen carefully once and should not be argued with now.

The real argument for a venetian in an older Waterkloof home is geometry. A north-facing sash takes high sun in December and low sun in June. Tilt the slats a few degrees down and the December sun is bounced back out while the room stays bright; open them flat in June and the low winter sun comes all the way in and warms the floor. No other blind lets you make that decision twice a year, let alone twice a day.

Fitted to the opening, not to a size chart

Everything is measured on site. In a deep reveal we usually fit inside, so the blind sits within the timber and the proportion of the frame is untouched. Where the reveal is shallow or the frame is out of square — and in houses this age, it often is — we face-fit and set the width to the moulding line instead, so the eye reads a straight edge.

Practical notes

• 50mm slats read generous and traditional; 25mm reads crisper and more modern.
• Cloth tapes hide the ladder cords and add a tailored line; cord-only reads lighter.
• Timber does not belong in a steamy bathroom or a scullery — specify aluminium venetians there.
• Wand tilt as standard, motorised tilt on request — both keep cords away from children.
• On very wide windows we split the blind into two or three drops on one headrail so the stack stays level and the tilt stays even.

Living with them

A timber venetian wants dusting, not washing — a soft brush or a dry cloth, slats closed one way then the other. Done twice a year it will look new for a very long time. When a cord eventually tires, we restring rather than replace; see repairs.