Blackout Vs. Room-Darkening Blinds: What’s The Difference?

Want to reduce the amount of light that comes through your window? You’ve probably heard of blackout and room-darkening shades or blinds, and may have heard the terms used interchangeably. You want a darker room to improve sleep quality, or perhaps to help with migraines and other medical conditions. Which type of window treatment is right for you?

The answer depends on your goals; there are real differences between blackout and room-darkening window treatments. Let’s shed some light on those: 

What Are Blackout Shades?

Blackout shades are a type of window treatment that blocks incoming light, not all of it (more on that in a bit), but a significant portion of it. We’re using the term blackout shades here because they’re one of the more common blackout window treatments, but blackout blinds and other blackout window treatments have the same overall goal.

We never say that blackout shades block 100% of incoming light; light flows through any gap, so some light seeping through is inevitable. Drapery can help reduce the amount of light that flows through the gaps between your windows and your shades. Choosing treatments like blackout cellular shades can also reduce the amount of light that flows into your room. 

How They Work

Room darkening and blackout window treatments use a clever combination of colours and fabrics to reduce the amount of light that can pass through them. There are many styles of shades that do not allow light to pass through the fabric, but, the critical thing to keep in mind will be “where will the gaps be?” The smaller the gaps, the less light will leak through. 

Do blackout blinds make a room completely dark? No, but with a combination of the right blackout window treatments and professional consultation and installation, they can significantly reduce the amount of light that flows into your room.

Where They Work Best

Blackout window treatments work in any room; if you want to reduce natural light, there’s a blackout window treatment that can help. Typically, we see them installed in bedrooms to help people sleep, but they can also be used in living rooms, entertainment rooms, and dining rooms for greater control over ambiance.

Do blackout blinds help with noise? Yes, the thick woven fabric used in blackout window treatments can significantly reduce noise, which makes them a great choice for windows that face major streets or other sources of noise pollution. They’re also excellent insulators; they can help you make your home more energy-efficient. 

Benefits And Drawbacks

There are more benefits to blackout window treatments than people realize; aside from helping to dramatically reduce light in a room, they’re also:

• Great for privacy

• Excellent for insulation, keeping your home warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer

• A fantastic way to reduce noise pollution

What Are Room-Darkening Shades?

Room-darkening shades are a type of window treatment that reduces the amount of light that comes into a room; a room darkening shade will not allow light to pass through the fabric, but you will still get light coming through at the sides, possibly over the top and under the bottom of the shade. 

How They Differ From Blackout Blinds

You can think of blackout blinds or blackout window treatments as a type of room-darkening window treatment that aims to block as much incoming light as possible. 

A true blackout window treatment, will not only block light from coming through the fabric, but will also block or reduce light coming in through the sides, top or bottom. In order to achieve almost 100% blackout, you would have to select a shade that is available to be installed with “side channels”. The shades run inside these channels on the sides, and cut any possible light from coming through. 

Best-Use Cases

Room-darkening window treatments can be used anywhere you want to reduce the amount of incoming light: bedrooms, nurseries and media rooms.  We highly recommend pairing room-darkening treatments with light-diffusing shades or drapery. This allows you to still have privacy and some light/glare diffusion when the room darkening shade is raised up. 

Can you layer room-darkening treatments and blackout blinds? We don’t recommend it; the treatments are extremely similar, and you’re better off pairing blackout window treatments with drapery or other treatments to reduce the light gap. 

Benefits And Drawbacks

The benefits of room-darkening window treatments are largely the same as blackout window treatments, though they may give you a greater degree of control over how much light is diffused into your room (while blackout windows aim to block as much as possible).The only true drawback may be that when the shade is raised up, you may lose privacy. 

Blackout Vs. Room Darkening: Which One Performs Better?

Light Control And Sleep Quality

Blackout window treatments are seen as the gold standard for sleep quality as they block as much light as possible, especially when combined with other window treatments like drapery.

Conversely, room-darkening treatments tend to give you a little bit more control, in part because they’re such a broad category of window treatment. 

Privacy And Comfort

Both blackout and room-darkening window treatments offer excellent privacy, effectively obscuring anyone from peering into your windows. Full blackout treatments offer the highest levels of privacy, but for most, other room-darkening treatments will provide sufficient privacy as well.

Design, Cost, And Installation

The design, cost, and installation of room-darkening and blackout window treatments are almost impossible to compare; it all depends on your overall goals. We often recommend pairing different, complementary window treatments together to obtain the level of light control and the aesthetics you desire.

Choosing The Right Option For Your Home

Key Questions To Ask Yourself

Here are three questions you should consider when choosing between blackout and other room-darkening window treatments:

What room are you outfitting? Bedrooms are often the primary targets for blackout window treatments, especially for people who work night shifts or sleep during the day for other reasons. In living rooms and dining rooms, ambiance tends to be more important, so light diffusing treatments other than blackout or room darkening treatments are often the go-to.

Do you need total blackout or just dimming? We hope that we have conveyed that total blackout treatments are something of an impossibility—light, like life, finds a way, and if you have a window, light will get through, even if you pair blackout window treatments with drapery. Nonetheless, you should consider how dark you need the room to be; you can dim a room very effectively with a wide range of window treatments, including light-filtering shades. 

Is energy efficiency a concern? Blackout window treatments are typically best for improved energy efficiency, especially if they come with lightly coloured backings that can reflect incoming sunlight. When energy efficiency is your primary concern, consider getting honeycomb shades (often called cellular shades); blackout cellular shades are quite popular! 

Common Mistakes To Avoid

Now that you’ve asked yourself what you want out of your window treatments, you should know the four most common mistakes that people make when choosing between blackout and room-darkening treatments:

Not understanding what room darkening or blackout really means. Hopefully, we’ve illustrated this point throughout this article, but as a reminder: You will never achieve 100% darkness in a room with a window. Room darkening and blackout treatments restrict light, but some will inevitably flow through.

Overlooking light gaps: As we just discussed, light will flow through or around your window treatments, even if you choose blackout treatments. Fortunately, you can mitigate the impact of light gaps by adding other window treatments like drapery.

Not considering the direction of your windows: Some windows get more sun than others, and light will flow through different windows with different intensity at different times of day. Finding the right room-darkening solutions starts with understanding how your windows are oriented. Window orientation will also affect whether or not you should opt for blackout treatments in order to benefit from noise reduction.

Not getting a consultation: Window treatments are more complex than most people realize. That goes double for treatments that are aiming to control the flow of natural light into a room. With the right custom window treatments, you can achieve better control over the lighting in your home; a consultation is the first step. 

Final Thoughts: Making The Right Choice

Both blackout and room-darkening window treatments can transform the ambiance of your home and help you rest easier. The right window treatment will depend on your needs, your home, your aesthetics, and your budget.

The team at Blind Ambitions can help you choose the perfect window treatments. Our professional interior design team will visit your home, talk to you about your needs, and help you select blackout or room-darkening blinds, curtains, or other window treatments to suit your requirements.