Choosing a roller blind usually means deciding two things at once: the shade you want and the amount of light you are prepared to live with. Optima, at Roller Blinds Direct, splits those decisions apart. The range is cut in blackout and dimout versions, so the same collection covers the room that needs proper darkness and the room that only wants its glare taken down - you settle the colour first and the opacity second. It runs to 19 colourways from £7.44, a shade card broad enough that most rooms in a house can stay inside one range.
Who it suits
The blackout versions are the bedroom answer: the fabric itself stops light passing through, which is what shift workers, children's rooms and anyone with a street lamp outside the window are actually buying. The usual caveat applies to every blackout roller, not just this one - light will still creep around the edges of a blind hung inside a recess, so where total darkness is the goal, fit the blind outside the recess and oversize it against the glass.
The dimout versions suit the rest of the house. A dimout softens and dims what comes through rather than blocking it, which keeps a kitchen, living room or home office private and comfortable without turning it into a cinema. The practical appeal of Optima is running both finishes through one palette: the same grey in the bedroom and on the landing, one blind dark and one not, without the two windows looking like strangers.
The colours
19 colours available
The card leans neutral, as working ranges do. White, Ivory and Natural hold the pale end; Greige, Light Taupe and Warm Stone sit in the soft in-between territory; and the greys arrive in real number - Slate Grey, Cool Grey, Silver Grey, Pewter - which matters, because grey is the shade buyers agonise over most and the differences between four greys only show against your own wall. Black, Midnight Blue and Brown anchor the dark end, and Merlot Red, Daffodil Yellow and Light Sage give the card its few genuine colour moments. The blackout and dimout versions are separate listings, so before settling on a shade, confirm it is cut in the finish your room needs - and order samples for the greys in particular, which drift warmer or cooler with the light a room gets.
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 23 Jun)
Optima opens at £7.44, which sits at the accessible end of made-to-measure rollers, and the price climbs with width and drop from there. It is a standard-fitting range - a straightforward roller on brackets - so what you are pricing is fabric and size rather than hardware upgrades. The blackout and dimout listings price independently, so compare the finish you actually intend to buy at your own measurements rather than relying on the range's headline figure.
How it compares
Against a single-opacity plain range, Optima's pitch is coverage: one shade card that answers both the sleep question and the glare question, where most plains force a change of range - and often of palette - the moment a bedroom enters the plan. Against a day-and-night blind, which alternates sheer and solid bands on one tube, Optima is the simpler and usually the more affordable route, settling the light question room by room instead of hour by hour.
The name is not exclusive to Roller Blinds Direct. Optima appears at three other UK retailers we track - Blinds Direct, Vertical Blinds Direct and Wilsons Blinds - and prices for the same window differ between the four shops, with no one shop reliably ahead at every size. Our Optima roller comparison lines them up at your measurements, and with four shops cutting one fabric it is the obvious last stop before ordering.
A note on care
Dimout versions take the standard roller routine: a regular pass with a soft brush or a vacuum on low suction, marks lifted promptly with a barely damp cloth, and no soaking or solvent cleaners. Blackout versions deserve slightly more respect, because the coating that stops the light is also the part you can damage: never fold or crease the fabric - a sharp crease can become a permanent line that reads as a bright thread when the sun is behind it - and wipe gently rather than scrubbing. Whichever finish you choose, let the cloth dry fully unrolled before winding it back up, and keep the tube and brackets free of dust so the blind runs true.
Likely the same fabric, at other retailers
Optima roller 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:
- Roller Blinds Direct this page from £7.44
- Wilsons Blinds from £7.44
- Blinds Direct from £8.22
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.