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Detroit blackout shutters bedroom

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How To Help Black Out your Detroit Windows

April 02, 2018

There are many reasons you’d want to control the light coming from your windows in Detroit. Say you want to dampen ambient street light, cars constantly driving down your street, or regular sunlight, controlling the light coming from your windows is important for a good night’s sleep.

For those dreaming of better sleep, Sunburst is here to help Detroit homeowners black out their windows.

What Window Treatments Block Light The Best?

Lots of Detroit window treatments claim to darken a room for better sleep, and you can basically divide them into three categories: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Here’s how they stack up.

Blackout Window Treatments – The Good

The best window treatments to block light from your windows should do a few things:

  • Effectively block light from coming in.

  • Operate easily depending on your needs throughout the day.

  • Look great.

The window covering that best fits all these criteria is Detroit plantation shutters. When you shut the slats, shutters create a seal on your windows, letting almost no light in. Our premier Polywood shutters also come with built-in weatherstripping that fills in the gaps around the frame, making them even more effective. And unlike cheaper shutters, Polywood will never warp or split, which can cause gaps in between the louvers and frame.

And unlike some bargain-bin DIY window blackout products, shutters look amazing in any room. Instead of looking like hardware, they’re as good looking as they are effective.

Another option belonging to the “good” category is light-blocking roller shades. These are made with thick and layered material to block out most of the sunlight, and extend past your window opening. There can be some small spaces around the edges of the window where light might seep inside. But for a non-shutter product, room darkening shades make the cut.

Blackout Window Treatments – The Bad

Here we have window coverings that don’t quite get the job done when it comes to blacking out a window. Any fabric window covering, from drapes to curtains, will allow some light in unless they’re both incredibly dense and go beyond the perimeter of your window.

Detroit blackout shades bedroom
 
Even heavy-duty blinds don’t do quite so well, since the slats on blinds don’t come together to block light. That means you’re going to get light, even if it’s at a very slight angle.

Blackout Window Treatments – The Ugly

Search for “Detroit window blackouts” in Google and you might find some do it yourself sheets that you can hang up in your window frame to completely black it out. Most of them are customizable to your window’s dimensions, and stick to your frame via velcro or something similar. And for the most part, they work fairly well.

But there are a few problems with these products. First off, they’re kind of ugly. The majority of these products sacrifice style for effectiveness. So if you put in of these blackout sheets, do it in a place that you don’t mind looking kind of drab.

blackout curtain ugly

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Second, for being easy to install, cross your fingers that you won’t have to take them up and down often. The adhesive or velcro that attach them to the wall can wear off pretty easily, which means you’ve got no choice but to try another one.

Let Sunburst Shutters Detroit Help You Control the Light

To learn more about interior shutters and other window treatments to help black out your windows, get in touch with your Detroit shutter team. Complete the form below or give us a call at 248-429-9294 today to get a free, no strings attached consultation.