Residential project

Bamboo Chik Blinds on a Veranda

South Goa

Bamboo chik blinds going up across a first-floor veranda, shot mid-installation with one blind already lowered and the second still rolled at the head. The veranda has a green painted metal railing with a lattice panel, and plastered walls.

Property type: Traditional Goan Village House
Location: South Goa
Work done: Blinds, Awnings & Outdoor Shade

Bamboo chik blinds being installed across a first-floor veranda with a green metal railing

The details

The Decisions That Mattered

Chik is the traditional answer to a Goan veranda and it remains a good one. The open weave breaks hard sun into dappled light while letting air move through, which matters on a terrace where the point is to sit outside.

An open terrace made usable through the afternoon, with shade that still lets the breeze through.

01Roll-up, not fixedBoth blinds are cord-operated roll-ups that lift clear of the opening entirely. On a veranda that is used differently through the day — shade in the afternoon, open in the evening — a fixed screen would only ever be right half the time.
02Full drop to the railingThe blinds run from the head beam down past the railing line, which is where the low afternoon sun actually arrives. A short blind stopping at railing height leaves the glare it was meant to stop.
03Hung outside the openingThe head fixing sits on the outer face of the beam rather than inside the reveal, so the blind covers the full aperture and rolls away clear of it. It also keeps the rolled bundle outside the living space.
04A consumable, not a permanent fittingChik is inexpensive and it does not last indefinitely on an exposed veranda — repeated wetting and drying eventually rots the binding cords before the reeds go. Taking them down and storing them dry for the monsoon roughly doubles their working life.