How to make a room actually dark?!

[JumpJockey]

We've moved into a house with windows with a recess so a windowsill of about 10 cm/, and UPVC frames i.e. with angles that edge onto the glass. In our old place we had wooden sashes that were very narrow so no problems but now... There's a streetlight right opposite the DD's bedroom, so even in winter it's pretty bright, and DD2 in particular is very sensitive to the light.

We got special blackout curtains made, as the window in the DD's bedroom is nearly 2m wide so too big for normal ones. Installed these, the light still floods up the gap where the curtain rail is attached to the wall. We tried fixing a Gro-blind to the window, but the suckers won't stick to the frame, and when we stick it on the glass even with adjusting it, there are still gaps where the light comes through, then up by the curtain rail. So I bought a blackout roller blind. Bloody thing of course also sits about a cm away from the wall/frame so the light still gets through.

Apart from fitting a pelmet (urgh) and velcro-ing the curtains to the walls, is there any other way to actually stop light getting into the room?! DD2 has been waking 5 minutes earlier every morning for the last 2 weeks as the sunrise gets earlier and I can't take much more...

You can get black out blinds that sit in a frame - have a google - won't be cheap though.

Here are some here

They look intriguing - though then when you open the window in summer, the light comes through the gap?

I am afraid that a pelmet ( solid box) will be the only thing that will work for you.
I blacked ou my friend's bedroom with blackout blinds/blackout lined curtains and solid box pelmet. It worked then she removed the pelmet and put up a pole.
Now she wakes at 4.30am.
Why do you not like pelmets? I think they are smart, but then I am very old!

Velcro on the wall. Big sheet of blackout material with the other half of the velcro strips on it. Velcro materal up at night, remove in the morning.

It's not pretty, and it doesn't help on the window-open-in-the-summer problem. But it's nice and dark and you get sleep.

Bertha - that could work. We're halfway there anyway having to velcro the sides of the curtains to the wall, so it could seplace the effing roller blind.

7to25 - sorry, I just don't like pelmets . They make me think too much of curtains with tiebacks and general unnecessary froufrouage.

You Could make shutters. MDF, etc, have a bit of fun so the side you will see during the day is nice. Simples.

What about the blackout sheets that stick to the window with static?

I got some for DSs room last year and was pretty pleased with them, they were GLTC if I recall correctly.

Ahsoka, I saw some of those but they said only to be used once? (probably a cunning sales tactic...)

mummyinspain - that would mean though that we'd need 1m of wall space on either side of the windows to open them out, yes? Sadly the room isn't that big and there's a chest of drawers in the way! :(

Ahsoka, have googled again and clearly the ones I saw were rubbish , new ones say they can be used for 6-8 weeks. Looks like they might be worth a go.

What about this type?

They are gorgeous, but I suspect a bit out of our budget!

you could have bi-fold shutters, is there enough wall space for those, assuming you'd need 18inch approx either side?

Just a suggestion - as it won't solve your problems but might help a little. Try contacting the council regarding the street light. There are shields they can fit to reduce/dim the light if it is shining directly into a bedroom window. We are currently trying to find a solution for our 2 streetlights with the local council - one is now being switched off after midnight. I found out about it here www.britastro.org/dark-skies/lightsoffresponse.html?6O

We bought black out material that you could cut to the shape of the window, and then attached velcro to the blind and to the window frames. Worked like a dream.