Are blackout blinds or curtains any good?

I'm trying to fix my sleep at the moment. In the summer it's rubbish, because light comes in through gaps in my shutters and wakes me too early.

I'm going to call some blind-fitting companies for advice but first I'd like the opinion of people who aren't trying to sell me something! Are blackout blinds or curtains good enough to keep a bedroom night-dark, or something close to it?

 

yes.

The biggest challenge is the light that seeps around the edges. This is minimised if you have the blind fitted in the recess, because if you have them on the front of the window the rail that the blind is attached to sticks forward of the wall & thus the fabric hangs about an inch forward from the wall - letting an inch worth of light in on either side.

The general advice is to have a blind measuring approx 7cm wider than the recess if you have it in front of the recess - i have found having it wider than that minimises the light that comes in down the sides.

But within the recess i have found is still best.

But the blackout fabric itself is as described no light gets through it at all.

If the amount of light coming through shutters is similar to that which comes through a venetian blind, then i'd say the blackout blind, as long as you get it fitted good & tight to the edge of the wall, will definitely be significantly darker than shutters.

 

Yes I have blackout curtains in my bedroom, invaluable. Would 100% recommend.

 

I'll vote yes too. I have curtains with a pelmet, so very little light leaks over the top; the rail is deliberately longer than it needs to be, so there's lots of overlap at the sides to reduce light leakage there. Mine are cheapie versions from Ikea (I think they were about £30 for two floor-length curtains), but they work very well all the same. Any light comes in round the edges, not through the fabric.

If I'm really struggling and want it as dark as possible, I have some lengths of black fabric that I gather up and hang over each end of the curtain pole rather like a couple of very long scarves, which soak up the small amount of light leaking out of the sides. I rarely need it, but it's great for when I do. I even take one length of the black fabric on holiday with me, so I can drape it across the tops of the bedroom curtains as a sort of temporary pelmet.

 

PS: Terry's is also very affordable—I have blackout curtains in my second bedroom from them. Don't bother with the eyelet type that slide directly onto the pole, though, they're pointless because there's so much light leakage. Over-sized, tightly gathered pencil pleat ones are best if you decide on curtains.

https://www.terrysfabrics.co.uk/collections/blackout-readymade-curtains

 

Thanks, all, that's hugely useful. I have solid wooden shutters but they're old, warped and ill-fitting so lots of opportunity for light to leak.

 

Yes. And particularly good for keeping a room cool. Mine weren't perfectly fitted (the person who came to measure years ago was 'ditsy' somewhat) but are 'in the windows against the pane and frame and meet the wall of the recess the windows are in, I think* just ones that go like normal blinds do over the wall so if windows are a number of cm 'inset' it is not against it also work but don't have them.

The advantage of the ones I have is that whilst it turns out I didn't like my room that dark in the end, I also have my normal blinds without those interfering so a range of options depending on the circumstance, and whilst they were got for darkness (concern was moving to a home with a lampost outside it would be an issue) I found the wonderful surprise when the summer came of how putting them down at first thing meant my room didn't heat up and was a bit shocked at the difference back then many years ago just from a quick blind being drawn.

I'd guess if you are sensitive to even shards of light and got that type fitting more perfectly against the pain and covering every single edge then it would be more 'complete' because it would fit the whole space to the wall vs those that go 'over' where it could sneak out more if a breeze meant the blind wasn't heavily stuck to the wall behind/it might come through gaps where the blind was joined etc. A others have said I guess weight helps there too.

No reason if you are really sensitive you couldn't have the in-window ones and still have heavy over ones too? If you've space to fit in the inset after the shutters (mine is like a roll at the top that sits at the top on the wall bit inside the recess before the window)

 

I cover my window with a styrofoam sheet with a tarp (fairly light-blocking) attached to it. It's mainly for insulation (gets to -40 here), but I added the tarp to avoid screen glare. A bit of dim glow comes through the edges, but I don't need perfect darkness, so I haven't bothered to correct that. My suggestion is to use multiple layers, such as an in-recess blind and an outer curtain. Trying to achieve full black-out with only one layer requires precision fitting.

Since you have existing shutters, you could add something to block the gaps. You could make gaskets out of some suitable material. Something like bicycle inner tube stapled to the shutter, with an air gap allowing for compression. Door/window gaskets tend to be light-coloured, but maybe some dark ones are available.

 

I don’t mind low levels of light, but as I have single glazed windows which can’t be altered as I live in a listed building, in the bedrooms I plan to fit thermally insulated blinds within the window recess and have lined curtains that are larger than the window openings.

In my previous flat I had installed plantation shutters that fitted very well and let very little light through the closed louvres, then with lined curtains made of a fairly heavy fabric much larger than the window bay it was very effective in keeping any light out.

 

Could you not fit internal solid panel shutters, the modern version of Victorian shutters? If they're fastened to the plaster, they might not cut across the listing order, since they're easily removable and are no more visible from outside than a set of curtains. I'd love to have them in my main bedroom to help insulate against light, heat, and cold, and I'm pretty sure the council wouldn't have any objections. The only reason they're still on the wish list is financial, to be honest!

 

I have some original Georgian shutters downstairs and hope to fit some sort of wooden shutters (probably after all the planning permission work is completed) at the back/north side but think that very simple blinds in the two bedrooms will be least obtrusive as the windows are beautiful as they are. I think thermally insulated roller blinds can be as efficient as shutters.

 

Yes, they are great! I bought a roller blackout blind years ago and it made a huge difference to my sleep, especially in the summer. They also keep the bedroom warmer during the cold winter months.

 

I bought and fitted a blackout blind in my bedroom and it was much better than draping towels all over my curtains... at one point I even built a plywood insert with foam edges to completely stop the light but the blocblind worked slightly better once fitted properly and is much easier to use on a daily basis. The blind runs through a rail system which reduces light leaking a great deal. It is not absolutely perfect because tiny pinhole sized leaks are detectable at the corners at dawn, if you you have spent all night in the dark and your eyes are adjusted you can just see them even though you can barely see your hand in front of your face, but they are not enough to disturb you unlike a standard curtain which is relatively transparent by comparison.

This is where I got mine.

https://www.blocblinds.co.uk/

The only downside was that at first it whiffed a bit of PVC when I opened it first thing in the morning because it is right above a radiator and sealed the area between the blind and the window, which is good for insulation but allowed the whiff to build up in there. I solved it by opening my window briefly when I opened the blind. It has worn off now.

In summer I leave the window open a crack and close the blind because it is a good light reflector and keeps the house cooler, ventilation allows the heat which can build up otherwise to escape.