Linen Avenue custom 9/16 single cell light filtering cordless top down bottom up (tdbu) cellular shades. JC Penney did carry them but you can find them a Amazon. They do a fantastic job

thanks! but when I look at the customer pictures on amazon, the white blinds look like they still let too much light through (screenshot below).

maybe what I'm looking for here is called "room darkening" but not blackout?

We have "black out" cell blinds. While no light gets through the blinds the room isn't blacked out. The blinds still have gaps on the sides that lets light through.

Pic is of my room in the day time with blinds closed and lights off. It isn't great since not much light but is enough to see easily enough. Room actually appears darker in the picture than it really is.

The room darkening(?) micro-pleat shades behind our Designer Screen Shades allow light in through the holes that the strings run though. At night, they keep light out of the bedroom, but once the sun comes up, the room, while darkened, is not pitch black. The micro-pleats also come in a privacy version, which is supposedly not room darkening. I’m not sure how much light they let in.

maybe I'll try putting cardboard in the window (with a little gap on either side like how the manufacturer would cut them). just to see if blackout would be ok.

still hoping to find room darkening pleated shades that are white but only let maybe 5% of light through. maybe that doesn't exist. it would help if they were a darker color. would light grey pleated shades look bad here? I have this idea in my head that any shades / blinds that are not white look kind of 80's.

cat_mom: what brand are yours? hunter douglas?

Match the shades to the trim.

I've used Hunter Douglas duette blinds and they have sheer, opaque and room darkening. No blackout option, because the physics of the design will always allow some light to leak through the sides. We minimize the leaks through the outer sides with decorative panel drapes, which are lined.

The room darkening should give you what you want. You will get some light leaking in the sides from the street lamp, specially if you don't add drapes on the side of the window.

drapes would be the most practical solution-- I would just close them over our current blinds. but that short, wide window would look so weird with curtains. alas. I love my house, but it loves to fight me.

B F yes. The Micro-pleat shades and the Designer Screen Shades are both Hunter Douglas.

Hey There: Contact us at ingo@fenstermann.com and I will send you actual fabric swatches to try them out. When you go with single pleated fabrics in black out, you will always have light coming through on the sides as well as through the small holes throughout the fabric. You can avoid this with honeycomb fabrics where the string runs through the fabric. We have over 170 honeycomb fabrics available from translucent to dim out to black out...www.PleatedBlindsStore.com

drapery would technically do exactly what I need. but as I mentioned before, my window is very short and wide. I really think drapes would look weird (photo above). plus I only have 25 inches between the wall and the bed so I'm worried drapes will also make the space feel crowded.

I put some cardboard in that window to mimic a blackout shade, with little gaps around the edges like how the manufacturer would cut them. it's not bad. darker than I wanted, but I think I could get used to it. I might just choose blackout shades after all.

thanks everyone!

Hunter Douglas definitely has 50% darkening. We have total blackout duette by HD in the front of our apartment which is street facing and also several SUPER bright street lights and floods. In our 3rd bedroom which faces the interior “donut” of our block, we have HD duette which are probably 50%. The seem like what you’d describe.

You could also do something else: light filtering roller shade with a Roman blind on top. That way you’d get customizable privacy and light blocking depending on the time of day and your needs. The Roman shade could even be blackout.

Consider Bali DiamondCell Blackout Cellular Shade. Bali (and other manufacturers) can put two shades on one head rail which gives a cleaner look and minimizes the space between the blinds. If you had two blinds (on one head rail), you could fully close the left-hand blind while leaving the right-hand blind (partially) open when the window is open. Don't worry about it being too dark; the leakage between the blinds and at the sides won't allow the room to be completely dark.

Why don't you just go to a...store? Turn off the computer and see the real thing in a store. Simple. Done.

@tatts obviously you’ve come to the wrong site if that’s your answer. Lol

NYCish: Some questions can be handled online, some choices can be made. But choosing colors and choosing blinds of this type are not.

She complained about the tiny samples not being enough to judge by. Sooo--go to a store and see the full thing. Simple. Done.

"Some questions can be handled online, some choices can be made. But choosing colors and choosing blinds of this type are not."

If that were true, why would there be so many websites offering blinds, shutters, shades and other products, and so many people buying from them (like me)?

wdccruise: Read what I wrote: "...choosing blinds of this type..." OF THIS TYPE.

Now, read her problem: "...ordering samples won't work, you can't tell anything from tiny scraps...".

She is shopping for something very specific (nearly blackout blinds) and she tells us directly that the tiny scraps are useless. My answer stands.

tatts, I did try shopping IRL. quality window covering stores in my area don't have showrooms (and places like lowes have lousy selections). I posted this question to houzz to find out if the product I'm thinking of even exists before I deal with the hassle of a home sales visit.