To expect a blackout blind to actually stop light getting into my DDs bedroom?

[Pavlovthecat]

Is that not what they are for?

After ordering in Jan 08, after much chasing, arguing and more chasing, the guy finally came round to fit said blinds.

And had the cheek to ask for payment. It was paid for at time of ordering .

It is the not the exact length of the window, and comes out a bit. The fixtures are in place correctly but there are gaps at the top, and the sides and it clearly lets the light in.

So, AIBU to expect that these blinds should black out the light?

I am not feeling pleased, but more disappointed with my order.

I think the main problem is that no-ones windows are perfectly square with opposite sides properly parallel IYSWIM.
Dh fitted the one in dd's room, and it is pretty good (ikea £10 jobbie), but it is a long window, so you can see where it isn't parallel.
Luckily her curtains are quite thick.
The ones in our bedroom (we have a street lamp outside our window, so I need them too ) are actually black out linings attached to our normal curtains work really well, with only a teeny chink at the top that lets light through.
They were more expensive though- about £60 I think. They do really work though, and if you had a plastic track instead of a wooden pole, then there wouldn't really be any light getting in at the top either.

Ah, now I have to disagree there. We have a plastic track and blackout material on the back of the curtains and it was not nearly enough. We had a swimming towel on the windo sill to hold the curtains in at the bottom and rolled up blankets balanced on the top of the plastic track.
Sticking the blind up is easier. Well so says dh who is doing it anyway....

someone on here told me to put tinfoil on the windows - perfect blackout

[though I am lucky - dd has a blackout velux blind - nothing gets through that bad boy!]

Pavlov - sorry haven't had chance to read whole thread, but can second whoever mentioned ba ba blackout blinds. Admit that blackout blind in DS' room doesn't blackout totally, but he doesn't seem to mind. I have bought some blackout lining to make lining for his curtains as well, as they cover more than the window, so that should help. However, knowing we were going to friends' last weekend and that they have very thin curtains, I bought the ba ba blackout blind and it was fab! I suctioned it to window and it made room at least as dark as his blind at home, but I guess you could also suction it to the window frame, which would totally cover the window - at £24.00 was and will be worth every penny! Comes with about 20 suction cups, but I only used 5 for this window.
HTH

Ours are great, got from local shop. Rooms are really dark and we got light filtering ones downstairs that are great for privacy. Cost about £300 for whole house supply and fit (9 blinds). We went back to him for carpets and he gave us a good deal as we counted as regular customers, really friendly guy.

I made my own, I just cut down a blackout curtain to fit the exact size of the window. I got the blackout curtain cheap from somewhere like Ponden Mill but it was too heavy for my curtain rail. So what I did was measure the size of the frame and cut it exactly to fit (leaving a small allowance for hemming). I then folded down a big hem along the top of the blind so it makes a sort of channel IFSWIM. I then got one of those sprung shower curtain rods, I don't know what they are called but they are kind of spring loaded and so it fits in the window recess - anyway the rod goes through the channel in the blind and the blind then fits the window almost perfectly, very little light gets through. I think suction cups would work even better but I don't know where to buy them from - maybe you can get them from a haberdashers or DIY store?

No, YANBU. If a blackout blind - especially a posh, made-to-measure job - is being marketed as fully blacking out a room, it should do that.

DS's old room had two huge windows in, and his curtains - hanging off poles way proud of the wall - let in oodles of light. So we bought cheapy Argos blackout blinds and they, too, let in oodles of light. I was doing the thing of shoving a sarong along the top of the blind, and stuffing pillows in the corners, etc.

What has worked for us is this. It's a bit naff, and if you have wonderfully tasteful and expensive wooden-framed windows, it's probably not an option. But if, like us, you have uPVC windows you're not particularly precious about, it works a treat. And you can't really see the velcro - it's white and blends into the frame.

DS has a sheet of this on his window now, plus a curtain, and although a teency bit of light seeps around the edges, the room is really quite dark now - even with the sun setting outside his window.

It's pretty affordable too.

HTH

One of the mums on here makes them if that helps? Another alternative is goto Jessops and get some darkroom material.

Since it has been up DS has been a right royal pain to get to sleep, even without her naps, but its hard to say if its the light or not as her sleep patterns are changing a bit anyway.

I wonder if I am just putting my own issues onto her as I hate the light, (we don't have blackout blinds in our room yet, and its a pain for me). She sleeps until a good hour in the morning so the light is not waking her up.

I do like the sound of the baa baa blinds tho. Can you get them to fit long windows. The main reason we used a proper (ha thats a joke) blind company is because DDs window has a very long drop and we could not get them from normal shops that were long enough.

I am going to complain today. I did not have time yesterday, but I really do feel that whether I need them or not, and whether there are better things out there to use, we spent a lot of money on something that clearly does not do the job it is marketed as.

I have done what a lot of others have said, had a blanket hanging from the window, but it is a first bought place and I just really wanted it to look nice. Funny thing is, yesterday we got the wink that we have enough money to move house so we might not be here very long. The tin foil might have just been the best option!!!

In the next place, I will defintely try the Baa baa blinds, esp in my own room!!!

Or, I will look out for the WW2 ones!

I ended up sticking thick black paper directly onto the windows. Worked very well, but not pretty, and means no natual daylight.

There is a company that sell a complete black out blind but it basically is a sheet of material that velcros to the wall outside the window frame. But it must make one hell of a noise when you open it.

We have blackout ikea blind, heavy weight curtains with a black out ready made lining from Great Little Trading (which are the best we have ever had and we have had a few over the years -had to leave curtains when we have moved) However, in summer we do stuff the gaps round the sides and top with small sheets to completely block out the light.

We would have bought the ba ba blind for holidays and visiting other people's houses but as ds2 is almost 2 we decided against it.

When do you stop using blackouts, then? Ds is 2.5 and I can't imagine him ever being able to go to sleep /stay asleep without it!

We use blackouts in our room - I cannot imagine sleeping in the summer without them now!

Twoddle, made my own one of those- VERY easy. I do NOT sew usually!.

They work brilliantly, BUT after six months of constant use, the velcro has become unsticky. It's okay when they are down, but they are definitely getting more loosely stuck, therefore slowly more and more light oozes its way in to the room. And with the summer nights, it's more and more noticeable. Thankfully it still does a good enough job for my two, but for very sensitive babies/children, I would definitely bear it in mind with that particular solution.

Fizzylemondade, it's not that noisy

I use the velcro ones from the company that advertised on here, plus normal blinds plus normal curtains with black out linings from blooming marvellous ( i think).they work well altogether but we leave them up so the room is always in darkness and i'm not,looking forward to it getting warm as you obviously cant open the windows.
in response to the OP, YANBU at all.

Olivo - its the company that advertises on here that I got a problem with

My dd has black-out blinds and thick curtains. She still wakes up at 6 or before. Don't think they make much difference.

I'd complain for sure if you aren't happy. Could be worse though - ours are similarly crap, cost £240 (we paid extra for really really good fabric to cut all the light out without realising about the gaps), and fell down the first night that Wee One was in his own room at 6 months old. Put em back up, down they came the next night. They now prop themselves up in the corner of the spare room - it's not like I could complain either, as they had been there (albeit unused and thus stable as anything) for around nine months...

||goes to look up Baa Baa Blinds though, yay! ||

oh crap baabaablinds are sold out till June

Am a little surprised by this thread. My dc have normal curtains and always have. Do your Dc have that much troule sleeping if it is not pitch black?
Where do they nap during the day?

however do agree that OP is nbu in that goods should do the specified job

When dd1 was younger, we used to blu-tac the blind to the window at the sides where the light was coming in. Worked quite well.

soupkitchen - my son has a normal roller blind and everynight since it was light at bedtime (8pm) he's got very upset about being sent to bed when it's still MORNING{his words} to the extent of hysterical furious tears he is 3 and i've explained it every night that it IS BEDTIME but he feels we are short changing him and there is more day to enjoy!!!

my friend has gaffer taped towels to her windows!