Key Differences Between Room Darkening and Blackout Window Treatments

Is your bedroom or kitchen hit by direct sunlight at all the wrong times?
Is your child’s nursery too sunny for nap time?
Do you get frustrated with the glare on your tv when watching the big game?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, room darkening or blackout window treatments are your best choice. But what’s the difference between room darkening and blackout? Let’s take a closer look.

The Key Differences

The differences between room darkening and blackout shades comes down to:

• Fabric or material type
• Color
• Closure of light gaps around the window frame

Room darkening window treatments use semi-opaque and opaque fabrics that can darken a room when closed. However, these fabrics do not eliminate all incoming light as light can seep through the sides of the window.

Blackout window treatments use opaque fabrics that will cut out the most amount of light, and are designed to minimize all light gaps. You can achieve 100% total darkness with the Hunter Douglas Duette® LightLock™ system.

Hunter Douglas Duette® Honeycomb Shades in Architella® with Lightlock™. Fabric: Elan®. Color: Black Onyx. Opacity: Opaque. Inside Mount.

Which type is right for you?

Room darkening shades are a great choiceif you want to achieve darkness but are not concerned about eliminating every single light gap.

If complete darkness is your objective, Hunter Douglas Duette® LightLock™ system is the way to go. This system fits securely into the window frame and is the only one of its kind to provide 100% total darkness. Its innovative U-shaped side channels feature a black, ridged interior surface that traps and absorbs light of all strengths and from all angles, which results in complete darkness.

Room darkening features can even be added to most Hunter Douglas window treatments if your other priorities do not align with room darkening fabrics and colors!

If you still aren’t sure what window treatment customizations are right for each room in your home, JC Licht’s window treatment experts are eager to help!

Want to learn more about window treatment privacy & light control? If you do, click here!

Light control is only one consideration when choosing window treatments. Read about the 11 decisions to make before buying window treatments, by clicking here.