Blackout blinds are exactly what they sound like. They black out the light. Many people require these blinds to even be able to get a good night’s rest. Many individuals also work nights and need blackout blinds in order to sleep during the day. These blinds come in all the different styles of blinds on the market today. If you do not wish to have a fancy window treatment on your window and you need total darkness to sleep, then blackout blinds are your answer.

The Styles

The different styles of blinds that blackout blinds come in are; duette and honeycomb shade blinds, aluminum blinds, wood blinds, bamboo blinds, vertical blinds and natural grass blinds. If the need is there for total darkness while you sleep, the window covering market has designed a blackout blind for you.

Many people think that just by putting a set of wood blinds on your window and closing them at night will give you total darkness. But this is not the case. An inside mount, meaning putting your blinds inside the window frame, will give you slivers of light on the outside of the windows if there is any lighting on the outside of the window and during sunrises. These slivers of light can practically light up a room for someone who needs total darkness to sleep.

Having a wider and darker slat and mounting these blinds on the outside of the window by at least three inches on either side and above will help secure darkness. Hold down brackets are also used to keep the blinds securely flat against the wall which will secure total darkness. Hence, you now have a wood blackout blind. The same is done for aluminum blinds; however, you must remember to use the wider slats for total darkness.

Roller shade blinds and duette and honeycomb shade blinds can be turned into blackout blinds by adding a special blackout lining to the back. This is done by the manufacturer and can be added to any color that you choose for an upgrade charge.

These blinds are probably the most expensive out of all of the blackout blinds, but they are the best of the group, as they are specifically made for total darkness. The natural grass and bamboo blinds are also done with a special blackout lining, but you defeat the purpose of using the natural grass blinds on your window if you want to blackout the light. These two natural styles are made specifically so light filers through the blind.

But some people like to have it both ways, light filtrating in during the day and total darkness at night. In this case, a special blackout blind is used directly behind the blind that is always up during the day and always down at night. This is also more expensive, as you are buying two blinds for one window.

Blackout blinds are a luxury that some people need in order to live a healthy life. They have been on the market for about 20 years and are getting more popular everyday. Many draperies have blackout linings for the same specific purpose as the blackout blinds, but the blinds are a more inexpensive route to go than draperies to obtain total darkness.

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