Uh, Amazon? Target? Local blind and curtain store? I searched for blackout curtains and found lots of them.

My now-husband had them in his old apartment and when I'd stay over there back when we were dating, I'd sleep till 1 in the afternoon because his room was pitch black. When we moved in together I made him get a sleep mask because the curtains would mess me up and have me sleeping away half the day. So they are definitely around.

Please send the brand you have that are truly black out. I have had them in many prior homes.

However, recently, I have ordered multiple brands from JCPenney, Amazon and Target. All said "black out", but they aren't. Reading reviews at other websites, no one has reported a brand that is truly black out. So, just having it in the label, doesn't mean much. Weary of ordering them and taking them back.

I just ordered some from Bouclair (Canadian store) and they're true blackouts with a proper blackout liner. Heavy suckers too. Ikea has some as well. Be wary of those that say "room-darkening". Those aren't blackouts.

Alternatively, you can use a separate blackout liner for existing curtains. Pretty sure I saw those on the Costco website (and perhaps Wayfair).

Good luck! Window treatments can be a pain.

I've noticed that some sites are using the term "blackout" when they just mean lined. Some retailers/mfgs. then up the language to "max blackout" to further distinguish. So,in reality,the whole process is about as clear as mud. The only rooms actually super blackout round here have drapes that are lined and interlined...and shades underneath.

Max blackout?! Good grief.

Lined and interlined, hollybar? What does that mean, exactly? I think a seamstress showed me that option and said it was popular in Europe for insulation?

ETA: Shades might indeed be simpler and less expensive than curtains, DG.

Yes,tartanmeup, "lined and interline" is European and very old school USA and basically just means that you have three layers of fabric involved,including a middle layer for insulation (both temp & sound). Probably not as needed as it once was since we now have more attractive high performance fabrics and,more importantly, better windows. But some drapes are still fabricated that way both for insulation and because of the body it adds to a thinner fabric.

I'll second Pottery Barn. I recently got a pair. They work great.

It's NOT "old school" to have curtains that are lined and interlined; it just means that they are custom curtains that were very well-made. I don't have a curtain in my house that is not done that way. Curtains that are interlined (with English bump) last 3 times as long as ones that are simply lined. Even adding a flannel lining to a Roman blind makes a huge difference. It also give them body. It's the "right" way to make a custom curtain or blind.

look here. I've ordered tons of shades from them. great customer service too

https://www.blinds.com/p/levolor-blackout-cellular-shades/503417

The blackouts offer almost total darkness w/the side light blockers ,,

Thanks, everyone!

Interesting about Pottery Barn. Might consider them; however, I just ordered rods from them of various sizes with end caps or finials in different finishes (about 15 items). The day after the order was placed and paid, I received a notice that various parts of the order are on back order until May, 2019! Yikes...now I have to figure out what needs to be returned or wait until May and hope for the best. It is a mess.

If I go with cellular shades under drapes, any advice on brands. Levolor versus Bali? I have owned Hunter Douglas in the past, but they are pricey.

tartanmeup...you are so right...window treatments are a pain.

BTW, I would ignore your children's complaints about lack of total darkness. It's an excuse to not go to sleep. Very few people must live in a total black-out room in order to sleep. My husband got used to black-out blinds during WWII and thought he "had" to have these. Funny, if he was tired enough, he slept like a baby - no blinds.

We have thermal black out curtains in the bedrooms and living room. I had a set for the patio doors and can't find them. The light peeks a bit from the side, and that's it-tho for someone who has to sleep during the day, that's still too much of an irritant. I got them off ebay several years ago and they're fabulous---the issue being I can't get into my ebay account to find the name of them. However, our daughter wants to change her curtains when we redo her room, so I need to figure something else out for her. I have found a thing that attaches to the window w/velcro that I am going to try https://www.blackoutez.com/ so we'll see.

the kids complain if the room isn't dark enough?? um, don't they go to school or something? I used to work the graveyard shift and slept until 3 in the afternoon without blackout blinds. if it's really that light, and the blackouts don't work, hand them those sleeping blindfolds. maybe the kids need to go to bed earlier so the morning light won't bother them! lol

Beth,

Light seems to impact our family members with a great deal of variation. Those that can sleep in bright light are the lucky ones.

the "kids" are the grand kids who come for extended visits and generally go to bed before it is dark, and if the room is not dark are up at sunrise. They are ages 5 through 8, so I don't think the blindfolds would work. Getting their room dark is self serving for their grandparents. :0)

ah, ok then. try the link I sent you above w/the light leak additives for the sides. did you see them on blinds.com?

In winter I get up at night

And dress by yellow candle-light.

In summer quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see

The birds still hopping on the tree,

Or hear the grown-up people's feet

Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,

When all the sky is clear and blue,

And I should like so much to play,

To have to go to bed by day?

I just loved A Child's Garden of Verses when I was little. It's the first object that I ever remember thinking of as mine--it's my book (not in a mean way). It may have been the start of my love of reading.

Anglophilia, sometimes the "right" way of doing something is "old school". I've always taken the expression to mean something that isn't done frequently nowadays.

“the "kids" are the grand kids who come for extended visits and generally go to bed before it is dark, and if the room is not dark are up at sunrise. They are ages 5 through 8, so I don't think the blindfolds would work. Getting their room dark is self serving for their grandparents. :0)”

These kids wake with the sun—which is normal—but you want to make them stay in bed longer? How about not putting them to bed while it’s still daylight?

All of us need to sleep in the darkest room possible it is a health issue for sure. Kids also should not take electronics to bed that blue light is very bad for sleep. As for blackout drapes go to a gooddrapery store and get liners.

Thanks to all. Will be continuing to work on this.

RE the kids bedtime and sleep hours...that is set by their parents who seem to have a pretty good handle on what keeps the kids in good spirits all day so they can enjoy a lot of activity.

I had only a couple of books when I was a young girl. One of them was an already vintage copy of Childs Garden of Verses. I still have it and can still look at the illustrations and feel the thrill that I felt as a child.

We didn't have a lot back in those days. We had very, very few toys or clothes and almost no books at all. I can only remember having two. The other was one about making things.

As for kids and sleep.........

My MIL told me that she used to put her kids to bed at 7PM! I cannot imagine putting my kids or grandkids to bed at that time! But, I do agree that a set schedule for a child does smooth out life, for all. With the life that my grandkids have, they are lucky to even have dinner by that time.

My son has his MIL staying for an extended time to help care for the new baby. MIL is from an different, not to be named, culture. She came running into the living room with her cell phone in hand where she had just come to the knowledge that having a night light in a childs room would stunt their growth and insisted that the little night light be removed from the three years old's room. Son had just purchased a new light that makes a little light show on the ceiling and plays the soft sounds of summer crickets. You can program it for any amount of light, motion, sound or length of time that you want. Granddaughter loves it. It goes off a while after she goes to sleep. She goes right to sleep between 9 and 9:30 and does not appear to have any sleep issues.

My kids could sleep anywhere...in the car, at the grocery store, on the couch.

I don't mean to be disrespectful to the OP, but I can hardly imagine how just a little light coming in will be a deterrent to sleep, if sleep is at hand. But, on the other hand, it seems that what you are trying to do is to trick the kids into thinking that it is night time when it is actually not. You are tinkering with their circadian rhythms.

As the kids get older, that is going to be harder to do. It might make more sense as they get older to require that they simply go to their rooms and read or do something calm and peaceful. They will wise up to it and you won't be able to fool them anymore. Hopefully, you will have established some good habits, though. And,I fully agree that having a schedule and having expectations for children is a good basic building block for life.

It is true that custom and formal drapes used to be made with bump as an interfacing. I used to make draperies.

If I were to require blackout on any drapes that I make now, I would choose the option of having a separate blackout lining. Those old formal style of drapes would not be a choice that I would ever make. I want it to be much lighter and more simple now.

Why don’t you consult with the parents to see what they have on their windows.

We had a 7pm bedtime at that age. Not fun during summer break when the sun doesn't set until 9:30. My dad worked overnights until he retired and he didn't like to sleep when it was overly light in the bedroom either. I don't understand why it seems to be a personal affront to others how people do things in their own homes.

There are wraparound curtain rods that are supposed to help cover the gap between curtain and wall. Just not sure how easy it is to remove them without unscrewing from the wall.

Walmart - wraparound blackout rods

drapery rods that curve at ends

These rods look interesting, Beverly. Do you know if the curtains easy to remove for cleaning with these?

I have those curtain rods, and yes, they're easy to take down to wash the curtains. The rod unscrews from the bracket.

I bought mine at Target.

You could also hang the curtains on rings that attach with metal clasps. That makes them easy to remove to clean.

Most draperies and curtain rods have "returns" on the sides.

You could run your blackout curtains on rods underneath the outer ones. Putting them all on rings allows for them to be pulled to the side and opened. A curtain that has a rod pocket and is threaded onto a rod is not able to slide open. You might be able to slide them back with some effort, but that is awkward.

I recently put my grand daughter's curtain on rings so that it could be opened. Her mother and other grandmother are more attuned to closing themselves and her up into the house. They never cared nor questioned that the curtains were permanently closed. That was back in September and the curtains are still open as I left them. The curtain is a very nice custom made one that I made. It was hung on a temporary basis that never got addressed for two years until I put it on rings. She is only three years old and I don't think she even knew that there was a window there. Now there is a little more than just an overhead light in the room. Now there is some real daylight.

If you use separate blackout curtains it leaves your outer layer of curtains to be changed when you feel you need something different and you still have your blackouts.

Have you looked at buying blackout lining at Joanns? Do you sew? You could do one solid panel across the window, as opposed to one on each side, and just have it slide to one side when you wanted it opened. I used to do draperies and they used to sell one by RocLon that worked quite well. That was some time ago and things may have changed.

Still debating best approach. Had thought we would do some sheers on either a double rod or on interior spring rods. Envisioned that most of the time, filtered light would enter bedrooms. Whenever privacy/light an issue, black out drapes would be pulled. Planned to use a fairly wide stack back and curved rods. Now thinking we might go to up/down shades with some drapes on curved rods. Still thinking.

Wed morning....arthritis has wiped out expensive sewing...but, in my earlier days have made drapes, curtains, upholstered, and tailored clothes. So, am familiar with drapery making methods and understand why well made ones are expensive. Saying that, not sure my guest bedrooms merit the expense of custom made. House is a bit rural too, so custom work is over an hour a way.

Blackout blinds are very practical and not expensive.

If you are concerned about light filtering at the sides, add grommet drapes, or drapes with clip on rings, on a rod. They don't need to be as light-tight if you have blinds, and they need not be expensive. Where I live, Value Village and similar stores have lots of them too if you are comfortable buying there.

In one of our bedrooms the summer morning sun sneaks in at one side in an annoying way, and we have thumbtacked that side of the drapes to the wall, to prevent light leakage.

For a different solution, I love to sleep with a sleep mask over my eyes. My son and daughter-in-law are converts too. Your local dollar store has them, with funny sleep-related sayings embroidered on the front. Amazon even has some some for children and ones for babies.

Looking into black out shades (maybe top down/bottom up) and thinking we will do some grommet drapes on a rod.

Thanks for all the responses. Other than HD (which I know are great) any thoughts about brand? Bali versus Levolor?

When my grandchildren were little and came for the night (or the weekend), my daughter was always jealous how late they slept in the AM. Black-outs? Not on your life! I did partly close the door to the bathroom as there is a skylight and the AM light poor in through it.

But what kept them in bed was the fact that the 2nd floor of my house is as cold as a refrigerator! I have a zoned system so it can be cold and I can be comfortable on the 1st floor. When they would wake up (all cozy and comfortable under their down comforter), it was cold enough that they'd just roll over and go back to sleep!

Dg, I understand taking the ready made way around things as we get older.

But, at least you can sew and a curtain panel is really very simple to construct so it may still be an option if you decide.

I completely understand why custom made cost is not what you are looking for.

Light is very hard to control. It will "leak" around any small avenue. Unless your treatment is right and tight against the wall the light will come in. If you do go for pull down shades, you might consider the option of an outside mount that goes above the level of the window and extends beyond the sides. If it is mounted inside the window, light will come in from around the edges since there needs to be an allowance of width in order to function.

To answer your question about brands, DG, I can tell you our cordless Levolors broke after ten years so I'm not inclined to recommend the brand. (Wanted HD but was steered to Levolor by the salesperson who said "they're all the same".)

https://blackoutez.com/Blackout-EZ-Window-Covers/LARGE-45-x-66-inches-Black-White?gclid=Cj0KEQjwjK--BRCzv-Wyu4OTosEBEiQAgFp5OGMrFpFYBQx-J9NT7N_NCruOKSF3BO5wbB0037OsTpgaAh-P8P8HAQ#.V8xfuvkrLIV

Put them up when the kids visit.

tartan....they ARE all the same, really. It is a good product. It seems that the most simple operation is usually the best.

I have some Levolor shades in my house that have been in the windows since somewhere around the mid 1990's and still look good and work perfectly.

Both of those companies offer some pretty good product. I understand your disappointment because they are quite pricy and you would expect them to last longer than that.

Thanks, wednesday morning. I'm going to contact Levolor to see if they can be fixed.