Shutters and Blinds Camden

Camden sits on the traditional lands of the Dharawal people, whose country ran from the coast up across the Cowpastures, as the early colony called this stretch of the Nepean. It was here that the government's escaped cattle were found grazing in 1795, and here that John Macarthur was granted the land in 1805 that became Camden Park and the birthplace of the Australian merino wool industry. The township itself was laid out by the Macarthur family in 1840, with St John's Church set on the hill above Argyle Street, and it grew as the market town for the surrounding dairy farms, vineyards and orchards. For most of its life Camden was a country town at the end of a tramline from Campbelltown, and the Nepean floodplain that wraps around it kept the suburbs at a distance. That changed from the 1990s, when the higher ground to the north and east opened up. Mount Annan, Currans Hill, Harrington Park, Elderslie and Spring Farm came first, then Oran Park, Gregory Hills and Gledswood Hills, and Camden Council became one of the fastest-growing areas in the country. The Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek, a short drive up The Northern Road, is the next chapter, and the town centre has been protected through all of it by the floodplain and its heritage listing. The result is a housing mix as varied as any in New South Wales. Argyle Street and the streets around it hold Georgian, Victorian and Federation cottages, many heritage-listed, with timber sash windows, deep verandahs and rooms that were never built square. Elderslie and Camden South are largely 1960s to 1990s brick veneer on generous blocks, while Cobbitty, Grasmere and Ellis Lane are acreage, with long western elevations and verandahs that face the afternoon sun. The new estates are two-storey homes on compact lots, with black-framed glazing, open-plan living and alfresco areas opening off the kitchen. Each of those homes asks something different of its window furnishings. In the heritage cottages, plantation shutters need to be measured and made for each opening, with narrower blades and timber-look finishes that suit the period. Camden's climate does the rest of the arguing: summer days regularly pass 35 degrees and winter mornings bring fog off the river, so honeycomb blinds and blockout roller blinds pay for themselves in insulation on the west and north-facing rooms. On acreage, outdoor blinds turn a verandah into a usable room through summer, and in the new estates the priorities are privacy from close neighbours and light control in open-plan spaces, which is where sheer curtains, panel blinds and motorised rollers come into their own. Fusion Shutters & Blinds is a Camden business. Our showroom is at 2/10 Gallipoli Street, Smeaton Grange, ten minutes from Argyle Street, and it is open six days a week if you would like to see the range before you decide. Otherwise we come to you: a free in-home measure and quote anywhere in Camden, Elderslie, Camden South, Cobbitty, Grasmere or the surrounding estates, with the full sample range in the van and a price on the spot, no obligation.