Inexpensive “Light-Blocking” Curtains That Work
“Why is he up already and crying?” This was the normal Saturday morning conversation at my house. All we wanted to do was sleep in an extra hour. The sunrise filled our babies room with daylight and he believed it was time to get up. This happened to me only a few times before I decided to take the plunge and get room darkening or light blocking curtains for my son.
My search…
- I hauled it down to Target and started looking through the light blocking curtains only to find that I was going to pay around $100 to put 3 panels up in his room.
- Remember, that whole thrifty thing? Yeah, that kicked in and I stared in disbelief at the price.
- I re-read the packaging several times to be sure that it only said “1 panel” and not “2 panels”.
- What? Were these things sewn with golden thread or something? And what if they didn’t work?
- A lot of the reviews I read were on the fence.
- So I decided to walk around for a minute and do a little smart phone research.
- I came across articles on how to make them yourself. Which normally would have been appealing, but at that point I still a newish mom and was just getting to the point where I started brushing my hair again everyday. So that was out!
- Knock-Off Version- As I turned the corner around the end cap and started scanning for clearance racks, some packaging caught my eye. I looked over at the end cap and to my surprise I found that Target had a knock-off of the room darkening curtains in the “Room Essentials” brand!
- Low Price- There were still only 1 Panel in each package except they were $9.99 each! So I bought 3 panels and went about my merry way.
When I got home, I took down the cute jungle valence and hung my nice chocolate brown light blockers on all his windows. I turned out the ceiling light in his room and was elated to see that very little sunlight was peeking in at the edges. His crib area was totally dark in the middle of the day. Oh, how much better even naps could be!
Before & After Details- Here are the before and after shots… These are taken around 8:30 AM. These are a little dark but it defeats the purpose to use a flash. 🙂 I should have gotten the longer 84″ curtains for these windows but I didn’t want my kid playing with them so I went with the shorter ones.
After converting the curtains and adjusting bed time a little we now have a kid who went from waking every morning at 6:30 AM to a kid that wakes every morning at 8:00 AM. His room stays dark so he stays asleep. He even fell asleep faster during nap time. Those results made it totally worth the $30 I paid to achieve my goal.
Noise Reduction- On the other hand, there are people who made need some severe help. Such as noise reduction. While these “Room Essentials” curtains appear to me to be the same thickness as the cheapest version of the name brand ones, I don’t have a noise problem where I live. So I can’t attest to whether they block any of that out. It appears that they sell noise reduction curtains on the same display as the light blocking curtains for Room Essentials. I’m very happy with the results I have seen from my curtains. Sleeping in on Saturday’s is a reality! I might just hit the snooze button twice!
If you find that these don’t live up to the standard of light blocking you need, you can simply return them to Target without any problems.
Kim Anderson is the organized chaos loving author behind the Thrifty Little Mom Blog. She helps other people who thrive in organized chaos to stress less, remember more and feel in control of their time, money, and home. Kim is the author of: Live, Save, Spend, Repeat: The Life You Want with the Money You Have. She’s been featured on Time.com, Money.com, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Day, and more!