Whilst we might not get the same long summers as those on the continent, our blinds and window coverings need to do two things, look good when closed in the winter (because, you know, the days are really short and dull) and they need to be able to block out the harmful UV rays in the summer. Especially in June when we have the longest day of the year. (Best day of the year!). Here we are going to look at your different blind styles and what room they will be best in, so if it’s a thinner dimout blind to stop the sun damaging your furniture, or if it’s a thicker blackout blind to block the late evening sun preventing you from sleeping, we’ve got a great range of both, and a few other options for you to look at too.

Dimout Blinds

Dimout roller blinds are a thinner type of material that will help to filter out the sunlight, whilst still allowing enough in that you can see what you’re doing. These blinds are great for living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms etc. Places that you don’t need to fully blackout the sunlight. These blinds are generally drawn in the evenings to give you privacy, but also can be closed during the day to shade your room from the sunlight.

Closing these blinds will also help shield your room from the harsh UV rays and will protect soft furnishings from bleaching in the sun, and protect wooden furniture from UV damage too. These blinds will also help to give your home privacy, security and with a huge range of colours and patterns to choose from.

Blackout Blinds

These do exactly what they say on the tin (or is that blind?), blackout blinds will prevent all light from passing through them and are perfect for bedrooms where the late evening sun would otherwise keep your room bright and full of light. These blinds are perfect, if not a complete necessity in any new baby’s, or young children’s rooms. Even us grownups can benefit as a chronic lack of sleep can cause a host of health problems. So if you’re looking for a lazy Sunday morning snooze, or work nights and struggle to sleep in the daytime, then a blackout blind is for you. These will help to create an environment that is more suitable for sleeping within, especially if you work night shifts, irregular patterns or just struggle to sleep unless the room is pitch black.

Bedroom Roller in grey blackout

For optimal coverage, we would recommend installing the blind outside of the recess and overlapping the window reveal by a good 5cm on each side to make sure you get as dark a bedroom as possible. If installing inside the recess the fabric on a roller blind will be 3cm narrower than the total width given, so there will be some light seeping in around the edges. 

Other Options

You can also look at installing either wooden blinds or Venetian blinds in a window to help shield your room from the sun, or install vertical blinds in your window to help block the light. Either of these blind types will give you the ability to tilt the slats or vanes so that you can allow some of the light to still enter your room - so you're not sat in total darkness!

With Vertical blinds, you have the option of either dimout of blackout fabrics to choose from - meaning these can also be installed in your bedroom. Whereas with the wooden blinds, the slats are blackout, but where they touch some light will leak through. This isn't a problem for most people, but for the very light sleepers out there, this can be a bit of an issue.

For a fully, 100% black room, you should install a blackout roller blind and pair with curtains to help stop the last little bits of light that creep in around the edges.

blackout skylight blind in cream