Blackout Shades & Blinds for Shift Workers

Sleeping in the day is harder than sleeping at night, and most of that comes down to light. A bedroom that feels dark enough at midnight can be bright at 10 in the morning, with sun around the edges of the shade and a glow through the fabric. If you work nights, rotating shifts or early starts, the window is the one part of the room you can fix properly. The shades and blinds here are chosen for darkness first, so you can sleep through the brightest part of the day.

Which shades and blinds to choose

Blackout roller shades are the simplest route to a dark room: one flat panel of fabric specified at 100% blackout, with nothing to gather dust. They are the one we would choose first for most bedrooms.

Blackout cellular shades suit small or oddly sized bedroom windows, since the cordless version builds from 12 inches wide, and the pleated face reads softer than a flat panel. Blackout roman shades give soft folds and a more furnished look while still keeping the room dark.

Order the blackout fabric sample before choosing a color. Dark grays and blacks look almost identical on a screen and rarely do in the room, and a lighter fabric on the room side can make a dark bedroom feel less closed in.

Getting the edges right

Blackout fabric passes no light through the cloth itself, so what is left is light around the edges. An inside mount needs a small gap to move freely, and on a sunny morning you will see it. For the darkest result, mount outside the frame. On cellular shades, add about 3 7/8 inches to both the width and height so the shade overlaps the opening on every side. You can add more if your wall allows it.

Width matters too. Blackout fabrics are heavier and milled on narrower rolls than light filtering fabrics, so they do not reach as wide. On several of our roller systems that is 86 inches in blackout, and 94 1/2 inches on our larger squared cassette. Cordless cellular reaches 94 inches wide and 94 inches high.

Motorizing helps when you come home tired. The AC152-06 remote supports time control, so the shades can close before you get in and open when your alarm goes off. Plan for the minimum widths: motorized cellular needs 23 inches and stops at 79 inches high, and a motorized roller needs 8 to 10 inches more width than the manual version.

Measuring and installing them yourself

Measure each window on its own. For an inside mount on cellular, reduce the measured width by 1/4 inch to clear the frame. For an outside mount, measure the area you want covered, including the overlap, rather than the glass.

Roller and roman shades fit with a cassette bracket. You need a 6 mm drill bit, the brackets mark at 1.1 inch spacing, and two anchor types are in the box, so use the one that matches your wall. Two screws on opposite sides hold each bracket, and the two spare holes are there for wide shades. Clip the cassette on and check that both the top and rear are locked.

Darkness is one part of sleeping well in the day. Keep the room cool, put a lamp where you can reach it, and think about a light colored shade if you want the room to feel less like a cave when you are awake. Each shade is made to measure and shipped direct to your door.