Concealed & Recessed Blinds

Some of Atholl's newer clusters and full renovations are built the way architects actually want them to be seen — frameless glass, double-volume living rooms, a bulkhead detail with nothing bolted onto it. A concealed blind is designed into the building rather than onto it: the fabric drops from a slim slot in the ceiling or a purpose-built bulkhead recess, hardware fully hidden. Raised, the window reads as glass, frame, and nothing else.

This is the product for architect-designed and heavily renovated homes with minimalist detailing, and it rewards being brought into the conversation early. The earlier we're involved — ideally at drawing-board stage, before the ceiling is closed — the cleaner the finished result, because the recess dimensions need to be planned in alongside downlights, aircon slots and any curtain pelmets, not squeezed in afterwards.

Retrofit isn't off the table if your ceiling's already closed: a surface-mounted bulkhead or a slim cassette pelmet, colour-matched to the ceiling, gets close to the same clean read without cutting into an existing slab. It's a fair compromise rather than the ideal — we'll always say so plainly at the measure.

Almost always motorised

Hand-reaching into a ceiling slot defeats the entire point of a concealed system, so these are specified motorised as standard — see our motorisation page for battery versus wired options. The upside is real: no chain, no cord, nothing to childproof, and one button or one app command for a whole wall of concealed glass.

What a concealed system costs in Atholl

Recessed work is priced per square metre installed and sits above a surface-mounted blind, because the pelmet detail, the ceiling coordination and the site work with the builder or ceiling contractor are all part of the job. By hand, the band is R1,600–R3,000 a square metre. Motorised — which is where most concealed installations end up, since the mechanism is deliberately out of reach — allow R3,200 to R5,000 per square metre.

These bands are for planning only. A short window carries a minimum charge, because the brackets, tube and fitting labour barely shrink with the opening, and the real figure for each window is worked out at the free measure and confirmed in writing.