How to Block Light from the Sides of Blinds
BWS Marketing • Jul 05, 2021

When you pull down the shades, you want to really darken the room. Whether you want darkness for sleeping, watching movies, or telling scary stories before the sun goes down; no-one likes that halo of light around the blinds that shines despite your best shading efforts. Those light edges are not only a little bit blinding, they also disrupt the look of a room with the curtains drawn. It keeps you from fully darkening a space and in the wrong circumstances, that light around the side of your blinds can really wreck the quality of your sleep or your home theater experience.

So how the heck do you block light from the sides of blinds when your blinds are otherwise perfect? Fortunately, there are more than a few clever answers to suit your needs, depending on your style and the way you want to subtly solve this leaking light problem.

 

Blinds that Fit Perfectly Into the Window Frame

One option is to order custom blinds and a mount that allows your blinds to perfectly fit into the space of your window frame. This means that the edges of your stiff blind fabric or light wood slats perfectly fill the space, the edges of each side lightly brushing the inner edge of your window frame. You may still see a sliver of light, but gone are those big gaps of light singing all the way around your window. Pulled down to the sill, your perfectly fitted custom blinds can block almost all light coming through your window.

 

Blinds Mounted Over the Window Frame Edge

Another option is to buy blinds that are an inch or three wider than your window frame and mount them ‘flush’ on the outside of the window frame instead. For this method, Mount your blinds roller just above the top beam of your window frame. Pull down your blinds so that they layer over the left and right vertical beams of the window frame. With a flush frame, the lower end should lapse just below the lower frame beam. With an extended window sill, bring your shade down to rest on the sill itself.

This overlap method will allow your blinds to sit against the window frame, blocking most of the light that might seep through. Again, you may find a minuscule sliver of light around the sides, but far less than the traditional glowing gap around the blinds.

 

Side Channels and Light Blockers

The most effective approach involves a very small additional installation in your window: Side channels and light-blocker strips. A light-blocker is an l-shaped piece of plastic (or metal, or wood) that mounts just inside your window frame. It can then sit just behind or just in front of the edge of your blinds, providing a small panel that blocks only that tiny space between the blinds and the window frame itself.

Side channels are an even more subtle approach. These u-shaped strips also mount inside the window frame, but they are designed to elegantly blend with the frame and ‘capture’ the side edges of the blinds as channels. The blinds will not only block more light due to having the sides blocked, they will also swing less and can look more elegant with the installation of tasteful side channels.

 

Layered Window Treatments

If you’re looking for a more fabric-focused solution, try layered curtains and window treatments in addition to your blinds. Hanging curtains on either side of the window, for example, are excellent at blocking the light that comes from the sides of each window. This is because the folds of curtain fall against the window frame and nearby wall as they fold back and forth. Combined with blinds, layered curtains are a great window treatment solution for a truly darkened room.

 

Tired of light seeping in around your blinds? Contact us today for the perfect custom solution to perfectly darken each of your windows when closed while enhancing your interior design vision.

 

Expert Advice by Just Blinds

The Leading Window Treatment Trends of 2024

By Autumn Hooper • 07 Feb, 2024
Each year, styles in window treatments come and go. Trends that were hot last year may carry over to the new interior decor season or may be replaced by something new. In 2024, we are looking at a delightful set of trends in blinds, shades, and curtains that embrace the developing attitudes and popular colors that are already giving the year a unique stylistic personality. At Just Blinds, we are delighted to keep up with the trends, helping homeowners, designers, and property managers to create stunning spaces that align with the latest in window treatment trends. The Hot Trends of 2023 Blinds and Shades Last year in 2023, we saw a great collection of trends, many of which have evolved and strengthened with the new year. 2023 explored the innovations of cell shades and honeycomb shades for the benefits of insulation and light control. Motorization gained a prominant place in both home and office design, and decorators discovered the dynamic possibilities of shades that operate from both the bottom and the top on floor-to-ceiling tracks. Texture saw a real debut with natural colors like wood finishes, linen, dusty rose, and moss green. Though bold patterns also had their day in the sun. The Trending 2024 Window Treatments In 2024, you may recognize a few trends still going strong from the year before, which is good news for those who decorated last year because your style is likely still right on-trend. But we are also seeing new trends developing with elegant enthusiasm. Smart Home Blinds The trend for motorized shades has naturally evolved to favor smart home controls. With a simple voice command, you can take control of all the motorized shades in a room, in your entire home, or set each shade to exactly the height and opacity you desire. Warm Neutrals and Bold Natural Colors Color trends favor a more natural palette. Neutral colors are warmer, even the grays and charcoals have a honey undertone, while natural colors like mossy and forest green are growing stronger in hue paired with a jewelbox of flower petal colors. If you're following the Colors of the Year, you may have also noticed an adoration of ocean blues, and you can match those blues with slightly darker or lighter blinds for beautiful effect. Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Materials Natural materials and textures were popular in 2023, and 2024 takes this trend even further. Blinds made out of recycled materials are now on the rise alongside the growing popularity of blinds made from super-sustainable plants like bamboo, hemp, jute, and grass cloth. These offer natural colors, dynamic textures, and the delight of eco-friendly design. Gauzy Sheer Elegance Sheer curtains and semi-sheer blinds are also in fashion; a classic style that has been floating near the top of popularity for literal centuries. Sheer curtains and blinds maintain privacy while allowing sunlight into the room in a gently diffused glow. They also layer excellently with more robust window treatments. Creative Window Treatment Layering Speaking of layering, we are seeing an enthusiastic embrace of creatively layered styles. Wooden shutters, gauzy curtains, and black-out blinds are among the most popular layers, but decorators are getting creative with how they choose to to layer their window treatments, using both multiple fabrics and structures at the same time. Find the Blinds that Best Suit Your Needs How can you choose fantastic and on-trend blinds that perfectly suit your design needs? Fortunately, the diversity of this year's trends leave room for almost any personal sense of style and the individual needs of each room's windows. Start with the size of your windows and your room's existing color palette. Decide if you want to match, accent, or contrast the colors of the room. Then choose the opacity, privacy, and level of motorized control you desire. This should guide you toward a specific selection that will work well for your room. From there, it's a matter of specific features and your personal sense of style. Reach Out for Expert and On-Trend Advice If you are getting ready to decorate a room and want the perfect window treatments for 2024, we are only a phonecall or a visit away. Give us a call for expert advice in the right blinds or shades for each window in your home. Our on-trend window treatment experts will be glad to help tailor your window treatment design to your personal tastes, the latest trends, and the style of each of your rooms.

Beat the Heat: Best Choices to Keep The Interior of Your Home Cool

20 Jul, 2023
Is your AC bill keeping you down this summer? Is your home too hot? Window treatments can help cool your home, but you need to choose the right ones and use them correctly. Not all window coverings are made equal. Here are some of the best options to help keep your home comfortable and reduce costs this summer: Cellular or honeycomb shades. These are specifically designed to provide a high level of insulation that keeps the heat out of your home. They also don't block the view when completely drawn. As a bonus, you can get them in a wide variety of colors and patterns to match your home and in both top-down and bottom-up configurations. Drapery. Old-fashioned curtains can be surprisingly effective. Choose a medium color and have us add a white plastic backing to reflect heat out of your home. You can also use drapes to block some of the heat without excluding much light, allowing you to enjoy natural light flowing through your drapes. Fabric Roman shades. These are a distinctive option that really dresses up a room, and if you choose the kind with several layers they will definitely help keep the heat out. We have light filtering and blackout options and everything in between. Why Should You Use These Types of Shades or Blinds? The two reasons are to save money and help protect the environment. Good shades keep your home cooler and this means your air conditioning systems don't have to work as hard and use as much energy. In the northern hemisphere, it's most important to have heat-reducing treatments on your southern windows and you can allow more light in through windows that face north. Both cellular and Roman shades can also be motorized and even put on timers to close the shades when you are not there and then let light in when you return. The small amount of energy used by motorized shades is much less than that lost through naked windows. All of these shades can also add to the aesthetics of your room. Cellular shades are great to add a pop of color or a subtle pattern. Both drapery and Roman shades give a soft feel to your windows that then spreads to the rest of your room. What is the Best Choice? The best choice of the three depends on your personal aesthetics. Our designers can help you make the right choice. If you want motorized shades, cellular shades are the lightest and thus use the least energy, and can roll all the way up and down, leaving your windows completely unrestricted. Roman shades are more visible, but can be used to add fabric and color to a room. Many people still love the look of traditional window drapes. Note that you can also combine shades and drapes for the effect you want, both in terms of reducing heat loss and in terms of aesthetics. How Much Can I Actually Save? The amount you save depends on the kind of window covering you use and how much thermal gain your house typically experiences. The larger your windows, in general, the larger the benefit, especially south-facing windows. For example, medium-colored draperies with a white plastic backing can reduce heat gain by as much as 33% for that window. Most window treatments, though, reduce overall heat gain by about 10%. This can significantly reduce your bills, by $100 to $200 a month during the summer. Using the right window treatment can make your home more comfortable in the summer and save money while preserving the environment. For advise on which window treatments to choose for your home and to see our selection of blinds and shades, contact Just Blinds today.
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