Vertical Blinds Direct announces its specialism before the homepage has finished loading: the name says vertical blinds, and vertical blinds are what it sells. Aqualuxe is a made-to-measure vertical offered in 10 colourways from £20.57, and it arrives with more personality than the format usually manages - the name and half the palette lean towards water, with Marine, Surf and Royal Blue sitting alongside the expected neutrals. To be clear, that watery streak is styling rather than a technical claim; read the listing for the fabric's actual properties before hanging any cloth blind somewhere steamy.
Who it suits
Verticals earn their keep on the windows other blinds find awkward. A single track spans a patio door or a wide run of glass without complaint, the louvres draw to one side so the whole opening clears in one sweep, and the tilt control is the quiet luxury: rotate the slats a few degrees and glare is knocked back while the room stays bright and the view stays half-open. No pull-up blind offers that halfway house.
That makes Aqualuxe a natural fit for living and dining rooms with sliding doors, conservatories that need the afternoon sun taken down a notch, and home offices where screen glare shifts by the hour. As with any fabric vertical, tilting the louvres shut dims the room usefully, but the overlaps between slats always admit a little light, so a bedroom that demands true darkness is better served by a blackout roller or a lined curtain over the top.
The colours
10 colours available
The card splits neatly in two. One half is the dependable end - White, Cream, Linen, Grey and Granite, the scheme-matching neutrals that most vertical ranges live and die by. The other half is where the Aqualuxe name earns itself: Marine, Surf and Royal Blue run the blues from deep to bright, while Lava and Solar bring heat for a room that can take it. Marine is prominent enough that the shop bills it by name in its own listings. As ever, the names are an invitation rather than a specification - the Surf in your head and the Surf on the slat may be different creatures, and the stakes rise with the bolder shades, so order samples of the contenders and judge them against the wall they will hang beside.
Price by your dimensions
Enter your window size. We round up to the next standard size, which matches how the retailer actually quotes you.
Price up 18% since 20 Aug. (our checks since 3 Jul)
Verticals tend to be economical for the area of glass they cover, and this range starts at the accessible end of made-to-measure pricing. The final figure follows the fabric: a blind for a full patio door uses far more cloth and track than one for a modest window, so the price rises with both width and drop. Measure the opening in three places, work from the smallest figures, and let the grid above translate the range to your own glass. Aqualuxe comes in the standard vertical make-up only, so there are no extra formats to price up.
How it compares
On a specialist's shelves the competition is mostly in-house: Vertical Blinds Direct's catalogue is verticals all the way down, and within it Aqualuxe stands out for having a genuinely two-sided palette rather than a parade of near-identical neutrals. Against other blind types, the case is the classic vertical one - more width per blind, tilt as well as draw, and a softer face than a venetian across a big expanse of glass.
The fabric is not exclusive to the shop, though. Aqualuxe also appears at Blinds Direct, Roller Blinds Direct and Wilsons Blinds, and the same cloth at the same window is priced differently from shop to shop - sometimes by a margin worth the detour. Our Aqualuxe comparison puts the four side by side at your measurements; make it the last stop before checkout.
A note on care
Vertical louvres ask for little. A soft brush or the vacuum's upholstery head run down each slat every few weeks keeps dust from bedding in, and marks want blotting with a barely damp cloth rather than scrubbing. Keep an eye on the bottom weights and stabilising chains, which do the quiet work of keeping every slat hanging straight. The format's best trick is repairability: if one louvre fades, tears or meets a felt-tip pen, it can be replaced on its own rather than condemning the whole blind, which is a genuine long-term saving on a patio-door span.
Likely the same fabric, at other retailers
Aqualuxe vertical blinds are sold under the same name by more than one UK retailer, and the price scales identically across window sizes - a strong sign it is the same fabric from the same supplier:
- Swift Direct Blinds from £7.79
- Blinds By Post from £9.95
- Blinds Direct from £14.69
- Vertical Blinds Direct this page from £20.57
- Wilsons Blinds from £24.20
- So Easy Blinds from £44.45
We match these on the shared name and an identical price curve, not an independent inspection, so treat it as likely the same fabric rather than confirmed - and check the specification and colour at each retailer before buying.