Purple ranges from a gentle lilac to a deep, dramatic plum, and a roller is the cleanest way to wear it. Where a Roman gathers purple into folds and a venetian breaks it into slats, a roller lays it flat as a single calm panel. This guide is for anyone who has settled on purple, and on a roller, and now wants to know which shade, which opacity and which retailer. It spans a value plain, a blackout and a designer option, drawn from three different UK retailers.
What purple brings to a room
Purple is the colour of depth and a little drama. A soft lilac or heather is gentle and almost neutral, calming in a bedroom; a mid mauve carries more colour; a deep aubergine or plum is rich and enclosing, close to a warm dark. As a flat roller, purple reads as a calm wash of colour rather than a busy statement - which makes even a deeper shade easy to live with. Purple shifts under light - a north-facing room can pull a lilac towards grey or blue - so test a sample against your aspect.
What to look for
- Opacity: a standard or light-filtering purple screens and softens daylight; a blackout fabric blocks it almost entirely - the pick for a bedroom.
- Fabric and finish: purple comes plain, textured and as a wipe-clean PVC; a moisture-resistant or PVC purple suits a kitchen or bathroom.
- Operation and safety: side chain as standard, with cordless and motorised options; use a cord-safe or cordless mechanism in a child's room, in line with UK requirements.
- Recess vs face-fix: a face-fix gives a tighter light seal for a blackout purple in a bedroom.
- Width: a single roller has a maximum width; very wide windows are better served by two blinds or a vertical.
How we chose
Three routes into a purple roller, each from a different retailer: a low-cost plain, a blackout for a bedroom, and a designer option for a more considered finish.
Our picks
Trapani Roller Blinds
at 247 Blinds
A low-cost mauve roller from 247 Blinds, lilac through deeper purples.
Dakota Moisture Resistant Roller Blinds
at Unbeatable Blinds
A blackout, moisture-resistant lilac roller from Unbeatable Blinds.
Laura Ashley Roller Blinds
at Terrys Fabrics
A Laura Ashley violet roller from Terrys Fabrics for a considered finish.
Pick details
Trapani Roller Blinds
at 247 Blinds
A low-cost mauve roller from 247 Blinds, lilac through deeper purples.
For a plain purple roller at the lowest sensible price, the Trapani at 247 Blinds is our value pick. It runs from soft mauve through deeper purples at an entry price among the cheapest made-to-measure rollers around. For a bedroom or living room that wants a calm wash of purple rather than a statement, it does the job and leaves budget for the rest of the room. It sits at the standard end rather than blackout.
Dakota Moisture Resistant Roller Blinds
at Unbeatable Blinds
A blackout, moisture-resistant lilac roller from Unbeatable Blinds.
When the purple needs to shut light out - a bedroom - the Dakota at Unbeatable Blinds is our blackout pick, and being moisture-resistant it copes with a bathroom too. The fabric is coated to block daylight rather than dim it, in a soft lilac that keeps the room gentle. At a low entry price for a blackout, it is the sensible choice when darkness is the requirement. Pair it with a face-fix fit for the tightest seal. Unbeatable Blinds is a second retailer to compare.
Laura Ashley Roller Blinds
at Terrys Fabrics
A Laura Ashley violet roller from Terrys Fabrics for a considered finish.
For a purple that should look considered, the Laura Ashley roller at Terrys Fabrics is our designer pick. Its violet draws on the Laura Ashley palette and reads as a more deliberate, dressed choice than a budget plain - the pick for a living room or bedroom where the blind is part of the scheme. It carries a higher entry price than the value plain, which buys the designer finish, and Terrys Fabrics is the third retailer here to compare. Use it where a purple roller is a design choice rather than just a screen.
What we didn't include
We have kept this guide to purple, and to a value plain, a blackout and a designer option. Other colours have their own guides. We have not made a separate pick of motorised or PVC purple rollers: motorised operation is an option on many ranges rather than a different product, and a wipe-clean PVC purple is the one to ask about for a kitchen window.