Blackout blinds

[bagofpucks]

Looking to get some help from CP experts…we are in need of some blackout blinds and just looking for some recommendations. We are hoping to make our kid’s rooms as dark as possible. Not too concerned about price, especially as it is hopefully a 12-16 year solution…haha.

[calgarygeologist]

Do you specifically need blackout blinds or can you live with blackout curtains? We bought a bunch from Ikea and they are pretty cheap to install and it is really easy to put up a curtain rod.

[bagofpucks]

Good question. For the one room, we have two windows that are at a 90 degree angle, so I’m not sure I can configure it with curtains, but I’ll do some measuring.

[DoubleF]

Always mount blackout blinds inside the window frame, not over it. It's surprising how much light can bleed through the narrow gap in the sides. If you do this, you won't need curtains to catch the extra light.

If for a kids room and you want to do for cheap, I used these.
https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/schotti...gray-90369507/

Cut them to size and mount inside the window frame. The tape on it sucks though so you either should use a thumb tack to hold it up if a wood frame, or a stronger double sided tape of a plastic frame.

Worked fine for me and room was usually too dark to notice that it looked cheap.

[Calgary14]

I have a set from Costco and they work very well in two toddler rooms. Makes bedtime so much easier in the summer and fall, highly recommend

[wireframe]

I bought blackout blinds from blinds.ca and theve been good.

[Minnie]

We're going to order some blackout window film off Amazon, and see how it works. Maybe that's an option. Easier than installing blinds.

Trying to find other window film that will bounce the sun/heat off our south facing living room windows.

[Texas]

I just went through this with our bedroom.

I went to IKEA and found a rail system that worked well for us. They have a big range of curtains, including black out ones in a bunch of colors. I made the rails cover two full walls and got 4 packs of dark navy blackout curtains. They wrap both walls like a hotel room. Picture below is from their website to give a sense (although the ones in the picture are not blackout, but they do have some).

The whole project took 2 days, $350.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Minnie

We're going to order some blackout window film off Amazon, and see how it works. Maybe that's an option. Easier than installing blinds.

Trying to find other window film that will bounce the sun/heat off our south facing living room windows.

Buy a roll of gila film for the reflector stuff. I can attest it works great to drop Temps for South facing windows. Window might get a bit warm but we haven't had issues with it being too warm.

Don't buy pre made window film applicator, mix your own using baby shampoo for cheap and use it liberally to get rid of bubbles. Make sure you have a sharp blade to slice the film without ripping at the edge of the window frame.

[photon]

We've used blackout cellular shades from blinds.ca before and they're fine, work well. Used them in our kid's room.

Also have a set of blackout sheer shades (https://www.blinds.ca/p/blindsca-fla...-shades/520110) in one rental and they're pretty good. I wouldn't say 100% though, enough for adults but maybe not enough for kids.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by bagofpucks

Looking to get some help from CP experts…we are in need of some blackout blinds and just looking for some recommendations. We are hoping to make our kid’s rooms as dark as possible. Not too concerned about price, especially as it is hopefully a 12-16 year solution…haha.

amazon is your friend

[bagofpucks]

Thanks for everyone’s replies!

After doing some research and checking out some samples it became clear that blinds weren’t going to solve our problem, so we ended up going the blackout curtain route. Luckily, Costco had curtain rods and blackout curtains on sale, so we ended up spending about $160 total to two rooms. One room was a little tricky as it’s a corner window configuration, but it still worked out really well.

[Texas]

Welcome to sweet, delicious, darkness...

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by bagofpucks

Thanks for everyone’s replies!

After doing some research and checking out some samples it became clear that blinds weren’t going to solve our problem, so we ended up going the blackout curtain route. Luckily, Costco had curtain rods and blackout curtains on sale, so we ended up spending about $160 total to two rooms. One room was a little tricky as it’s a corner window configuration, but it still worked out really well.

If you were to do blinds, make sure the installer does these side tracks so there is no light coming in the sides.
We did this in our son's nursery and it works great.

[rotten42]

Originally Posted by bagofpucks

Thanks for everyone’s replies!

After doing some research and checking out some samples it became clear that blinds weren’t going to solve our problem, so we ended up going the blackout curtain route. Luckily, Costco had curtain rods and blackout curtains on sale, so we ended up spending about $160 total to two rooms. One room was a little tricky as it’s a corner window configuration, but it still worked out really well.

If you get a p[roper blackout blind with the rails they will work perfect. You need the side rails so there is no light bleeding from the edges. I have them in my bedroom and it is pitch black in there during the day when they are shut.