The Home Ownership Thread

[Omega Male]

Got my garden folly painted up nicely. Going to add some recessed spots to throw light on the grill at night and probably train some creepers through the slats.

 

[otc]

Thoughts on blackout curtains vs simply room darkening curtains? In a bedroom that also gets used as a home office?

I've been experimenting with both and I think the blackouts may just be a little too extreme. I'm not some third shift worker who needs to sleep during the day.

I have blinds already, but when the afternoon sun hits, they are still extremely bright (get glare on screens, webcam struggles on zoom calls, etc). The darkening curtains I picked up aren't that dark but they do tame the light sufficiently. At night they provide some noticeable darkening as well as noise reduction, but not nearly as much as the blackouts.

The blackout curtains just kill the light. A little too extreme during the day, but at night they do a wonderful job of shutting down the city light and muting noises a bit. On the other hand, I stubbed my damn toe last night when I had to pee because I couldn't see ****. Also, every little electronic item in the bedroom is now an annoyance--some little LED blinks with the blackout curtains and you're suddenly wide eyed thinking "what was that".

After years of sleeping in the city, the darkness and quiet is kind of eerie--its not the same quiet you get when camping or staying somewhere rural.

 

[jbarwick]

If it's your bedroom, blackout curtains are the way to go. I am a whiny ***** about my sleep and I sleep best with complete darkness. After sleeping this way for a while, hotels are the worst with a ton of LEDs everywhere...

 

[brokencycle]

I can sleep during the in full sunlight and those blinking lights don't bug me at night either. You're both picky and whiny.

Personally though, I'd go room darkening -- I don't like the look of complete blacked out during the day. We have heavy weight linen curtains + room darkening cellular shades for the bedrooms.

 

[otc]

That's my other fear with the blackouts...I'm going to transform myself into someone who can't sleep any other way.

Tonight is night 2 of blackout testing. Right now I am sitting with them closed enough to kill most of the glare, but open enough to let some light in because the room just feels weird with them closed. Maybe if I had some light fixtures with "daylight" bulbs, it wouldn't be so jarring to walk between rooms.

On the plus side, this chinese motorized smart curtain system is awesome. I haven't quite synced it up with my alarm yet, but I can say "Hey Google Close the curtains", and I can hit a button on the remote to have them let more daylight in in the morning when I'm trying to wake up.

 

[otc]

In an ideal world I'd probably have a motorized dual-roller solar shade setup--one sheer that cuts UV, heat, and glare, but still lets you see a bit outside and one not-quite-blackout...but those have to be custom fit and start to get way too expensive to leave behind in a place I may not be staying in too much longer....This curtain track is adjustable length and can be redeployed elsewhere.

And it cost a hell of a lot less than covering 130x72 windows with smart home solar shades.

 

[romafan]

We have it switched up: blackout shade and fabric curtain which dampens sound.

 

[flipstah]

Blackout curtains are nice for rooms that got tons of sunlight and you need instant shade like a TV near south-facing window.

Room darkening curtains are slightly better than sheer. I put it in my bedroom so I still get some sunlight.

 

[sugarbutch]

In an ideal world I'd probably have a motorized dual-roller solar shade setup--one sheer that cuts UV, heat, and glare, but still lets you see a bit outside and one not-quite-blackout...but those have to be custom fit and start to get way too expensive to leave behind in a place I may not be staying in too much longer....This curtain track is adjustable length and can be redeployed elsewhere.

And it cost a hell of a lot less than covering 130x72 windows with smart home solar shades.

I want a dual-roller setup (and designed a space above the windows to house them), but the quotes were in the dafuq? range, so mañana...

 

[Gus]

We put electric blinds in our home (I highly recommend them if you need to adjust daylight during the day). As part of the process, they brought out various sheets with blackout, 90%, 80%, 70%. There was a HUGE difference between each one that is hard to imagine without trying them in your home. We thought we would want/need blackout and ended up going with 80% and are glad we did. But, for an office, you might have different needs.

 

[brokencycle]

I want a dual-roller setup (and designed a space above the windows to house them), but the quotes were in the dafuq? range, so mañana...

Got some quotes for something similar. Even just standard uv shades were stupid expensive for what they are. Allegedly there is only like one or two companies making most of the roller/uv/cellular shades. Seems a lot like the sunglasses industry.

 

[otc]

The ikea ones are interesting but they only sell the blackout ones in the US. Other places get a gray as well.

Products - Discover Our Full Range Of Furniture And Homeware

Browse our full range of products from dressing tables to complete modern kitchens. Click here to find the right IKEA product for you. Shop online and in store today.

www.ikea.com

Being battery powered seems like a downside too--if you're going through the effort of spending $$$ customizing your window treatments, getting the electricity hardwired seems like a managable obstacle.

Supposedly you *can* cut them to custom lengths despite what Ikea says.

if you're down with curtains, these Zemismart ones (come in various sizes and wireless controller schemes) are not a bad deal:

144.09US $ 40% OFF|Zemismart Wifi Smart Curtain Motor With Track Alexa Echo Google Home Control Via Tuya Electric Curtains Rod Broadlink Rf433 - Smart Remote Control - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

 

[FlyingMonkey]

We just have simple (non-electric) blackout rollerblinds where we need them. Ordered them cut-to-fit and installed them myself. Very simple and they really take very little effort to pull down and up...

 

[jbarwick]

We just have simple (non-electric) blackout rollerblinds where we need them. Ordered them cut-to-fit and installed them myself. Very simple and they really take very little effort to pull down and up...

I want to do this in one of our rooms but my wife wants bamboo...so we are currently still deciding.

 

[otc]

We just have simple (non-electric) blackout rollerblinds where we need them. Ordered them cut-to-fit and installed them myself. Very simple and they really take very little effort to pull down and up...

Yeah, the only reason I want motorized is so I can have them open automatically in the morning without getting out of bed. Blackout curtains have an adverse effect on me waking up, but it seems silly to get one of those "wake up lamps" when it is already sunny out in the morning.

Otherwise, yes, it is not really that hard to open/close a curtain.

I also wouldn't mind some auto solar shades in my west-facing living room windows. Really need something covering the windows in the afternoon to keep the sun from fading the furniture and heating the place up. I'm not usually home during peak sun hours, so either I forget to close the blinds and come home to a hot apartment or I never open them and end up missing out on the view. A solar shade that rolled down from like 2-5PM would be great.