Total Blackout Shades & Blinds

Most blackout fabric stops the light that lands on it. The light that wakes you usually comes from the edges: a bright line down each side, a glow across the top. For daytime sleep or an afternoon film, the fabric is only half the job; the other half is how closely the covering fits the opening. This page gathers our made-to-measure options for a total blackout room, starting with the one built to close those gaps.

Total blackout shades and blinds, compared

ZeroGlow blackout shades lead this page. ZeroGlow is a 25 mm cellular shade in blackout fabric, held inside an edge-to-edge frame instead of hanging free from a headrail. A rubber weather strip runs around the outside of the frame so it sits snugly against the sides of the opening. It is cordless, and you choose whether the shade travels up and down the glass or side to side. The fabric comes in White, Black, Beige, Light Gray, Dark Gray and Straw, and the frame in three colors.

Blackout roller shades suit wider windows and a flat, minimal look. Our blackout roller fabrics are 100% blackout and roll up into a squared cassette at the head of the window.

Blackout cellular shades give a soft honeycomb face and come with cordless, bead chain or motorized lifts, so a big or hard-to-reach window can still go dark.

Woven wood shades with a blackout liner keep the texture of bamboo, jute or reed and add a 100% blackout backing to both the shade and the valance, in nine colors from White and Cream to Taupe and Black.

A few design notes. In a bedroom, match the fabric to the wall rather than the trim, so the window reads as part of the wall once it is closed. Black or Dark Gray ZeroGlow suits a media room where you want the opening to vanish when the lights go down.

Sizes and fit for a fully dark room

ZeroGlow is built to the size of your opening, and you can give your measurements in inches or millimeters. Because the frame presses into the window recess instead of hanging from brackets, the size you send is the size the frame is made to, so measure with care.

Blackout roller shades on our squared cassette reach 94 1/2 inches wide and 118 inches high. Any roller shade over 100 inches high moves to a larger tube and a larger cassette.

Blackout cellular shades reach 94 inches wide and 94 inches high on a cordless lift. A bead chain takes them to 197 inches wide. Motorized cellular shades reach 126 inches wide but stop at 79 inches high, so check the height of a tall window before choosing a motor. If you mount a cellular shade outside the frame, add 3 7/8 inches to both the width and the height. The extra overlap improves the shading effect around the edges, which is exactly where light leaks in.

Woven wood shades reach 96 inches wide on every lift. Wider openings take two or more shades on one headrail, up to 118 inches in total.

Measuring and installing it yourself

ZeroGlow goes in with no drilling into your walls or window trim. Lay the frame on a soft, flat surface and join the corners. Apply the rubber weather strip around the outside edges of the frame. Then position the frame inside the window opening and gently press the front of it into place. Measure each opening at more than one point.

Roller shades mount on a cassette bracket. Screw each bracket through at least two of its four pre-drilled holes on opposite sides, hook the groove at the top of the valance onto the bracket latch, and press the valance back until it clicks. Check that both the top and the rear are locked before you let go, and use the anchor that matches your wall. Woven wood needs at least 1 5/8 inches of frame depth for an inside mount.

Compare total blackout options here, pick the colors that suit the room, and send us your sizes. We make every shade to measure and ship it direct to your door.