Night Privacy Shades & Blinds

Privacy at night is a different problem from privacy by day. During daylight it is brighter outside than in, so many shades let you see out while the street sees very little. Once the lamps go on after dark, that reverses, and a sheer or open-weave fabric can show a clear view of a lit room to anyone passing. This collection is built for the evening hours: shades and blinds with opaque fabric that keep a living room, bedroom or street-facing window private once the sun has gone down. Each one is made to the width and height you measure and shipped direct to you.

Which shades stay private after dark

The deciding detail is opacity. Our roller fabrics run from lighter weaves rated around 45% to 70% blackout up to fully opaque fabrics rated at 100% blackout, and for night privacy we suggest staying at the opaque end. Blackout roller shades give a clean, flat face that disappears into a cassette when raised. Blackout roman shades do the same job with soft folds, which suits a living room or dining room where the window is part of the decor.

Blackout cellular shades add a honeycomb layer to the window and are available top down bottom up, so you can drop the top of the shade for a view of the sky while the lower part stays closed. Woven wood brings natural texture, and the liner is what decides its privacy. With no liner a woven shade is about 50% see-through, a light filtering liner takes it to about 70%, and a blackout liner makes it 100% blackout. For night privacy, choose the blackout liner.

ZeroGlow is a blackout cellular shade held in an edge-to-edge frame that presses into the window opening, with no drilling and a cordless lift. Wood blinds are included for a slatted look in a den or study; order a sample to see how it reads at your window in the evening.

Sizes and limits to plan around

Blackout fabric is milled on narrower rolls than light filtering, so it tops out a little narrower. In our squared cassette a blackout roller reaches 94 1/2 inches wide and 118 inches high, against 98 3/8 inches for light filtering. Any shade over 100 inches high moves to the large cassette with a 43 mm tube, which reaches 118 inches wide and 120 inches high. Woven wood is built up to 96 inches wide on every lift system; cordless woven wood reaches 106 inches high and clutch or motorized reaches 118 inches. Wider openings take more than one shade on a shared headrail, up to 118 inches in total. A cordless 38 mm cellular shade runs from 12 to 94 inches wide and up to 94 inches high.

Measuring and installing it yourself

Measure the width at the top, middle and bottom and the height on both sides, then use the smallest figure, rounded down to the nearest 1/8 inch. For woven wood, check the depth too: the frame needs at least 1 5/8 inches for an inside mount and 2 5/8 inches to sit flush. If gaps at the edges worry you, an outside mount closes them; for cellular, add about 3 7/8 inches to both width and height.

Roller and roman shades hang on a cassette bracket fixed with a 6 mm (about 0.2 inch) drill bit and the wall anchor that matches your wall. Hook the valance groove over the bracket latch, press back until it clicks, and check both the top and the rear are locked. ZeroGlow skips the drill: join the frame corners on a soft surface, fit the rubber weather strip around the edges and press the frame into the opening.

A good way to choose is to stand outside at dusk with a sample held to a lit window. If you can still make out shapes, go one step more opaque. Many homes pair a screen or light filtering shade in daytime rooms with an opaque shade in the rooms used most at night.