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Everything you need to know before purchasing blackout blinds

Woven Shades

You may be looking into blackout blinds for a bedroom, media room, nursery, or another type of room that necessitates total darkness. Like all window treatments, blackout blinds serve two purposes: aesthetic and functional. Blackout blinds are mostly functional as they are tasked with shutting out light from the outside world, but they can also look great while they’re doing their job.

Here are some things to know before you invest in blackout blinds.

What is a blackout blind?

Technically, a blackout blind is a roller blind housed in a cassette. To some people, blinds and shades are interchangeable terms. For our purposes, we will be discussing blackout blinds.

Some of these blinds run through side grooves on the window frame, so that the fabric will block out even more of the light. No blinds are 100 percent successful at blocking out all light, but good blackout blinds get pretty darn close. Unless you’re a professional photographer who needs a pitch-black darkroom to work in, most blackout blinds will make your rooms plenty dark enough.

Blackout material is what makes these blinds so effective at blotting out the light. To begin with, you should decide which type of blackout blind is best for your living situation or commercial space.

Types of blackout blinds

Fabric blackout blinds come in two choices: a folding Roman option or the flat rolling type. The asset to having blackout material on a fabric blind is that it gives the blind a bit more weight when pulling it down so that you can be sure the light is well and truly blocked.

You also have the choice of vertical and Venetian blackout blinds made up of vertical slats lying against one another with blackout coating on the fins. The slats or fins to these particular blackout blinds overlap a good deal to block out the light.

An advantage to this choice is that you can control the amount of light in a room, which is helpful for waking up slowly. You can use these types of blackout blinds to angle the light away from certain areas, a baby’s crib or a computer monitor for example.

Light versus dark

Blackout blinds used to be only made in darker materials as these materials were better at cutting out the light. These days, however, blackout blinds are available in lighter shades as well. White blackout blinds match most decors, and the lighter color lends an airy feeling to the room when not in use.

Environmental benefits

Blackout blinds come in lots of colors, but they’re all green. They help keep the heat in your building during the winter, and the heat out during the summer. The light-blocking capabilities of blackout blinds make them a great tool for an environmentally conscious or budget-savvy property owner.

Not all blackout blinds are created equally, so it’s important to research the type of blind you’re looking into or to consult with a window treatment professional like those at The Blinds Side. They’ll help you see your way to better blinds.