Curtains

What Are Blackout Curtains?

room with blackout curtains

Blackout curtains are all about having sound sleep. A hormone called melatonin is responsible for us to feel sleepy. Only darkness releases the hormone, so you must have a dark bedroom to have sound sleep. In broad daylight, it’s impossible to have such darkness without the right blackout curtains.

A darkened room actually tells your body that it’s the perfect time to sleep. Your brain starts to function that way and lead you to have the sleep. So, I believe you understand what a blackout curtains can do. The blackout means there is total darkness and these curtains let you have the darkest room you must have.

These curtains are designed in a very specific way so that outside light can’t filter through and enter the bedroom. Another great thing about these curtains is they can muffle the outside sounds as well. This is highly important for you if you live nearby any busy street or there is an open playground for kids nearby your home.

Who Need This?

For several reasons, you should have blackout curtains. The most important reason to have them if you are a night shift worker. In that case, you must sleep at daylight. Some people try to have sleep wearing an eye mask in daylight. But that is not a viable solution. Eye mask comes loose when you move in your sleep. Besides, they can’t block the outside sound.

Apart from your need, blackout curtains are highly useful for the children bedroom as well. Because growing children tend to sleep before sunset, so they need to darken their rooms.

Blackout curtains do a lot of jobs, but you should have them if the outside light is the biggest concern for you.

Protect Costly Furniture & Floor

Apart from sleeping, blackout curtains protect your precious furniture from premature aging due to outside sunlight. When the outside UV rays and lights enter your room through these curtains, the impact becomes significantly lower. Hence, these curtains can protect the floor and your costly furniture from damage and fading.

Yes, I must admit, blackout curtains are more costly than their non-blackout curtains counterpart. But the benefits derived from such curtains definitely overcome the extra costs in the long-run.

Reduced Utility Cost

It may sound little weird, but blackout curtains can also reduce the monthly electricity bills. Once installed, there will be reduced electricity bill for the heating and air conditioning your rooms. In winter seasons, these curtains reduce the amount of heat lost and cool down the room blocking outside the head in summer!

Are They Difficult To Install?

Definitely NOT! The installation is same as installing any non-blackout curtains. All you need curtain rods as per your requirements. First, count your windows and doors where you need to install them.

Then buy blackout curtains as per your need. The number of rods should be equal to the number of windows and doors. Normally such curtains come in pairs and a single rod can hold two of them.

To install the curtain rod, you need to have curtain rings as well. But the good news is, most of the time these rings come with the curtain rods as complimentary. Once you have all the things to install them, you are ready! Now follow this blackout curtain installation guide and you will see it’s really easy!

Can You Transform Existing Curtains As Blackout?

Though I don’t recommend it because actual blackout curtains are so cheap to buy. But yes, you can transform your existing normal curtains as blackout curtains. For that, you need to use the blackout liners. Just get some liners and sew them with your existing curtains. It’s a fun and great DIY project and one of the easiest of their kind.

As I said, I don’t recommend you do so. Because even you use the liners, your curtains won’t be a true blackout in nature. Instead, get the readymade ones; they come in various colors and so cheap. That way, it will add value to your bedroom and improve your sleeping experiences.

And Lastly

Using blackout curtains keep your room warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They reduce the external disturbing noise level as well. You should have them whether you love to sleep at day or not. Just for the sake of privacy, blackout curtains are highly recommended. The make the inside of the room totally invisible from the outside.

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