need to blackout child's room cheaply

[time4tea]

Hello

DS2 is an early waking blighter, so I need to sort out blackout curtains. there is a roller blind in his room already, which we don't want to get rid of, as the window has a non-standard width and it would be big bucks to get a new roller blind.

has anyone managed to do something easy to blackout a child's room without getting special curtains - is there a quick and easy way to sort this out? I see various suction things from Mothercare/ELC, but do these work?

thanks for any advice you can give.

X

Bin bags--thats what I used!

I use black sugar paper, two sheets sellotaped together, and then shut the top edge of the paper in the window frame when you close it!

tin foil apparently works a treat. use masking tape around the edge

Ikea blackout blinds are very reasonable and can be cut to size.

You can also buy blackout fabric quite cheaply on eBay.

I found the Velcro easy blind the best product you can buy that 100% blackout without any cracks of light coming through. We paid about £27. no need for blinds and black out curtain lining etc with the Velcro blind.

www.easyblindsonline.co.uk

Dark/black bath towels put up with drawing pins works too.

Towels/spare duvet hung on the curtain rail. Although duvet worked too well - DS' room was pitch black last night and when he woke up he just sat in bed and screamed because he couldn't see!

You can order made to measure blinds very cheaply from www.blinds-2go.co.uk we have had blackout roller blinds from them, plus wooden horizontal venetian blinds too.

You can order samples to see the fabric before you order.

For the children's rooms we have a blackout blind with blackout curtains which makes it fairly dark, but when we go on holiday or to hotels we stick those baa baa "blackout" travel blinds to the window. They work but it is an arse removing it every morning if you want light to come in.

I would use the sugar paper method, cheaper, removable etc.

We have done the towels thing when on holiday before we had the baa baa travel blinds. Towels and pegs!

I used a large piece of blackout fabric (from local curtain shop) plus sew n stick Velcro- sticky side at the top of the window, sew side attached to the blackout fabric (cut slightly larger than window for extra drape at sides/bottom) by machine. Works a treat!

gro bag blind or baa baa blind (it has changed its same, same product)

a big piece of black out material that attaches with suckers to even the most huge of windows... and you can pull it in to make it exactly fit your window. (and un pull and use again and again and again on windows of all shapes and sizes)

sell for £20 ish on ebay £30 new

NO no no! There's a product you can get that was on dragons den:

www.magicwhiteboard.co.uk/faqs/blackout/#what-is-magic-blackout-blind

DO NOT use the one from the magic White board website from dragons den. We used it and it cracked the window. The company paid to replace the glass. They cannot be used on double glazing because is uses static to stay on the glass it gets too hot between the sheets of glass and causes it to crack. If you search on here you'll find my thread. It was about 12 months ago now. If you google the company you'll find loads of other people complaining about it cracking their windows.

To blackout my DD's room, I bought blackout lining from Dunhelm Mill, and stuck sticky back velcro along the top of my white PVC window( you don't notice it) and the other bit of velcro along the top of the blackout lining. We velcro it up every night and you can't see any light getting through, pull it down again in the morning and fold away til evening time. It works really well, the piece of lining only cost around £7, and a few pound for the sticky back velcro. have been using the same piece for around 2 years now. hope this helps.

We used the gro bag suction blind thing - was excellent & great for taking on holiday too!

The easyblind Velcro one is the only type that actually blacks out properly. Otherwise you always get chinks of light (even with thick curtains or blinds or even adding 'pelmets' a la Gina ford). My 8 yr old still wakes early.... (But can at least read now.) My younger girls are fine - not perfect but normal - but his lack of sleeping from 4 am nearly ruined my marriage....!

I've got these in pink in our room. They black out really, really well. We've got a dual aspect, I never know what time it is when I wake up. I bought them because I suffer with migraines and wanted my room darker than the blackout blinds were making it and they work for that.

We use tin foil and a bit of tape

I bought blackout roller blinds incredibly cheaply online. If you shop around they come in all sizes including non standard. We've had them for about 10 years and they still work. Chose black as it works for teen DC as well as when they were toddlers, so we haven't had to change them.

Just bloody noticed this is a zombie thread!

Oh fuck it!

Thanks fairy

We've the gro blind and it's useless, no matter what way we position it we just can't get all the suckers to stay put, they pop off and the blind half falls down. I wouldn't recommend it.