The Banlight Duo FR is a flame-retardant blackout vertical blind sold by So Easy Blinds, available in 30 colours with a from-price of £33.75. The FR designation means the fabric meets fire-retardant standards, which distinguishes it from a standard blackout vertical and makes it relevant for settings where that qualification matters - rental properties, offices, or any room where a landlord or building manager needs compliant window coverings alongside genuine blackout performance.

Who it suits

Vertical blinds are the natural choice for wide window openings and patio doors, where a roller or roman blind would be awkward to operate across a large span and venetians would become unwieldy to tilt. The Banlight Duo FR works well in living rooms with full-width glazing, bedroom patio doors, and conservatories where you want blackout at night without multiple blinds. The vane-rotation mechanism gives reasonable light control throughout the day; rotate vanes fully closed for the blackout effect, angle them for privacy with some daylight.

Where it suits less well: a narrow bathroom window is better served by an aluminium venetian or a PVC roller - vertical vanes on a short, narrow window look disproportionate. A bedroom with a standard window (rather than a patio door or floor-to-ceiling glass) may also be better matched by a blackout roller, which gives a cleaner look on rectangular apertures.

The flame-retardant specification adds relevance for landlords fitting out rental properties under fire-safety obligations, and for commercial-residential crossover spaces. If flame-retardancy is not a requirement, a standard blackout vertical from the same retailer would cover the same room types.

The colours

30 colours available

So Easy Blinds lists 30 colours for this range, covering a broad neutral base - Pale Grey, Stone Grey, Concrete, Linen, Nude, Sand, Biscotti - alongside stronger options including Black, Navy, Ocean, Redcurrant, Rose, and Old Gold. The grey family alone runs to five distinct names (Charcoal, Grey, Pale Grey, Stone Grey, Ultimate Grey), which is useful if you are trying to match an existing scheme. Warmer neutrals such as Desert Sage, Lichen, and Dijon lean muted and earthy rather than bold; they read as background colours that won't compete with furniture. The Iris and Marina options introduce a cooler blue-green note for conservatory or living-room settings. Most of the palette reads as designed for interiors that want the blind to sit quietly rather than make a statement.

Price by your dimensions

Made to measure from £33.75. Check So Easy Blinds for the price at your exact window size.

With a from-price of £33.75, this range sits at the budget-friendly end of made-to-measure blackout verticals. As with all made-to-measure blinds, the final price rises with width and drop - the from-price applies to the smallest available size.

How it compares

Against a standard blackout vertical from the same or another retailer, the Banlight Duo FR's differentiator is the flame-retardant fabric. If you don't need the FR qualification, a non-FR blackout vertical may offer a wider fabric range or a marginally lower from-price - worth checking if fire rating is not a requirement for your installation.

Against a blackout roller blind, the vertical format wins on wide openings and patio doors but loses on narrow rectangular windows, where a roller gives a cleaner profile and a tighter blackout seal around the edges. Roller blinds in blackout fabric can also be easier to pair with side channels or perfect-fit frames for edge-to-edge darkness; vertical blinds, by their nature, allow some light around the vane edges when the sun is low and direct.

Against cellular or honeycomb blinds, the Banlight Duo FR offers blackout performance the cellular type cannot always match, but gives up the thermal insulation that cellular blinds provide. For a conservatory where you want both heat management and blackout, a layered approach or a specialist conservatory blind would be worth investigating.

Fitting and operation

Vertical blinds mount on a top track that is fixed to the wall or ceiling of the recess. The vanes hang from carriers in the track, rotate via a chain or wand, and slide along the track to open. Most retailers supply the track and vanes together; check what is included in the price before ordering. Made-to-measure width and drop measurements follow standard UK practice: measure in millimetres, width first, drop second. If fitting inside the recess, measure the recess width; if fitting face-to-wall outside the recess, measure the desired overall blind width including any overlap onto the surrounding wall.