How to Eliminate Light Leakage from Your Blinds for a Better Night’s Sleep
Light leakage from blinds is a common dilemma but one that needs a solution all the same. Nobody likes to be woken or kept awake by gleams of light that seep in through the blinds early morning or when they’re trying to nap during the day. Hey now, don’t get us wrong, sunlight is always welcome but just not when we’re trying to sleep! Even in the night, incoming light from passing cars and streetlamps can put a damper on your sleep.
No matter how good the quality of your blinds, light manages to seep in from the sides and tiny gaps between the slats. While light gaps are a common challenge, why let them impact the quality of your sleep when there’s a ton of effective solutions at hand?
Budget Blinds brings to you a number of ways in which you can overcome this challenge and enjoy a night of restful sleep that energizes you for the next day.
What Causes Light Gaps in Blinds?
While there’s a variety of blinds in different materials and styles available in the market today, there’s one common factor in all of them. And that is the unwelcome light leakage that almost all blinds have. There’s a number of factors that cause light leakage in blinds and even shades. Ill-sized and ill-fitting window treatments are often to blame. When windows are not measured accurately and fitted precisely with covering solutions, light can escape from the edges of the blinds.
Even in the case of properly fitted windows, light escapes from the narrow side gaps and in between the vanes or slats, which impacts their room darkening capacity. This is especially problematic in spaces like home theater rooms and bedrooms where a blackout effect is desired.
Another cause of light leakage is likely the material of the blind. Blinds with sheer material or thin fabrics are not effective at blocking light. The style of the blinds can also affect their light control abilities. For instance, Vertical blinds probably won’t offer the same level of light control as that offered by some other blinds.
How to Prevent Light Leakage in Blinds
Budget Blinds helps you avoid the above mentioned issues with a number of solutions that are discussed below:
1. Ensure a Proper Fit
At Budget Blinds, precision is key to ensuring exceptional quality of window covering solutions. Our team of design consultants as well as expert installers has undergone comprehensive and rigorous training that emphasizes on precision and quality.
One of the most fundamental requirements of blinds is controlling the incoming light and we ensure that our local Budget Blinds experts deliver a window covering solution that is a perfect fit. We take pride in precision and ensure a high degree of accuracy in measuring your windows and installing the chosen window treatments. Our blinds are tailored to the exact specifications of your windows, covering them perfectly. This ensures minimum light leakage from the edges or sides of the blinds. Learn more about our process.
In addition, most of our blinds can be customized to fit uniquely shaped windows like arched, angled-top panes, trapezoid, octagon, and more, helping minimize light gaps.
2. Opt for Outside Mount Installation
Inside mounts are great for the aesthetic effect as they don’t cover the window sills and decorating molding unlike outside mounts, giving a finished look. But if you’re looking for an enhanced room darkening effect it’s best to opt for outside mounts as these can mount blinds to the wall or even the molding around the window, eliminating the light gaps.
However if you don’t like the visual effect created by mounting blinds outside the window recess, don’t worry. You can opt for inside mounts with Budget Blinds as we ensure a perfect fit, as explained above. And to further enhance the room darkening effect, there are other methods listed below.
3. Use Blinds With Sturdy Materials Like Wood or Faux Wood Blinds
Sturdy materials don’t allow light to seep in as opposed to sheer materials or fabrics. Consider installing Wood blinds or Faux Wood blinds which are great at blocking light. While light can filter in from between and sides of the slats, there’s a way to overcome that problem, which we discuss next.
4. Opt for Routeless Option
Budget Blinds also offers blinds with routeless options to eliminate light leakage. Routeless options come with slats that have no holes where the ladders are on the sides. For achieving enhanced room darkening with blinds, consider installing Budget Blinds’ Wood or Faux Wood blinds with routeless options.
5. Use Vinyl Blinds With Cloth Tapes
Budget Blinds’ Vinyl blinds make for an excellent choice for eliminating light gaps as they’re available with cloth tapes that cover gaps, offering increased light control and privacy. Plus our Vinyl blinds are able to adjust to a variety of room lighting conditions. Our Faux Wood blinds can also be ordered with solid or decorative cloth tapes for eliminating light gaps.
6. Opt for Venetian Blinds
Budget Blinds’ Venetian blinds can be tilted open and closed. These are great for both light control and privacy. To eliminate light leakage completely, these are available with routeless features as well.
7. Drapes
If you don’t want to replace your existing blinds, adding an additional layered window covering solution is one of the best ways to ensure complete light control. Draperies are a great alternative for tackling light filtering in through blinds. They can even offer a complete blackout effect by completely blocking the light leakage from blinds.
With these tips on eliminating light leakage, we hope you’re able to achieve enhanced light blocking so you can enjoy refreshing sleep that leaves you rejuvenated and ready to take on the challenges of the next day. One of the most effective ways to eliminate light leakage however is by fitting your window treatments precisely the first time, which our Budget Blinds team is great at ensuring!
If you would like to replace your existing window coverings, browse through our range of window covering solutions, which offer both style and practicality. Or if you would like professional guidance in selecting the right window treatments for your home, schedule a complimentary in-home consultation with one of our local Style Consultants. They would love to visit you and evaluate your requirements to recommend just the right window covering solution that matches all your needs including functionality, style, and enhanced light control and privacy!