Shutters and Blinds Shellharbour

Shellharbour sits on the traditional lands of the Dharawal people, who lived around Lake Illawarra and this stretch of coast for thousands of years. The shell middens left along the shoreline gave the district its European name. The first land grants in the area were made in the 1820s and 1830s, and by the middle of the century a small port had grown at what is now Shellharbour Village, shipping local produce north to Sydney. Shellharbour was proclaimed a municipality in 1859, making it one of the oldest local government areas in New South Wales. For its first century the district lived on dairy farming and the sea, with the harbour handling produce until road and rail took that trade away. The real change came after the Second World War, when the steelworks at Port Kembla drew thousands of workers south and new suburbs went up quickly at Warilla, Barrack Heights, Oak Flats and Albion Park. Growth has not slowed. Shellharbour is now one of the fastest developing parts of the Illawarra, and the Shell Cove and Flinders estates have added thousands of new homes along with a marina and waterfront precinct. The result is a district of two halves: established post-war suburbs around the lake with mature gardens and original aluminium windows, and brand-new homes handed over with large glass, high ceilings and nothing yet on the windows. Those two halves need different answers. New Shell Cove and Flinders homes are usually a whole-house fitout, where double roller blinds carry a sunscreen blind for the day and a blockout blind for the night on the same bracket, and floor to ceiling sheer curtains suit the tall stacker doors these houses are built around. In the older suburbs, openings are rarely square after fifty or sixty years, so plantation shutters and blinds have to be measured to the reveal rather than ordered to a standard size. Sitting between the ocean and Lake Illawarra, Shellharbour also takes salt and wind from two directions, which drives much of what we recommend locally: polymer and aluminium shutters near the water, marine-grade mesh on screen doors, and tracked Zipscreens rather than loose outdoor blinds on the alfresco areas these newer homes are designed around. Fusion Shutters and Blinds is proud to serve Shellharbour, from the village and Shell Cove through to Albion Park and Oak Flats.