From dry, mild winters to hot, humid summers, Australia’s climate differs significantly throughout the year, forcing families, especially those with young children, to adapt accordingly.
This is further complicated by changes in daylight saving time, which causes sleep disturbances for our little ones due to lighter evenings and darker mornings in the winter.
A simple solution to make life a little easier is blackout curtains, also known as blocking curtains.
Curtains may seem like the least essential item in a baby’s room. Still, in this article, I’ll explain why this underrated piece of fabric can make a big difference to your family (and your energy bills), especially if you have a young baby.
Why you should block the curtains in the nursery
1) Keeps the light out for a better sleep
If you have young children or a shift worker in the house, blackout curtains are essential for sleep. These curtains are made from a tightly woven fabric with heavy support and designed to block light, creating a “blackout” when fully drawn.
Although they are not sufficient to completely mimic nightfall, they will block at least 90% of sunlight, creating enough darkness in broad daylight to encourage drowsiness.
2) Blocks heat and keeps the room cooler
A less known fact about blocking curtains is that their thickness and heaviness give them thermal insulation properties. As they prevent light from entering the room, this also means that heat penetration is reduced. This helps keep a room cooler in the summer when the temperature at midday rises sharply.
During the cold season, blackout curtains have the opposite effect: they trap heat inside the room and slow down heat loss so that the room stays warmer for longer, especially at night when the outside temperature can drop by more than 10 degrees Celsius.
3) Reduces energy bills
Due to their insulating properties, blackout curtains reduce your dependence on heating or cooling systems. You can get by with much less use of air conditioning or heating throughout the year simply by using blackout curtains in rooms most affected by rising or falling temperatures.
By helping maintain a more constant indoor temperature, these curtains work with heating and cooling systems to be more energy-efficient. If heat loss is reduced in winter, furnace thermostats can be set lower, effectively reducing heating time.
Conversely, when curtains block the heat in the summer, air conditioners can be set at a higher temperature because the indoor temperature will not rise too quickly.
4) Reduces outside noise
Finally, blackout curtains reduce noise by up to 40%. Although they are not designed for soundproofing a room, their dense construction interferes with sound travel, so they reduce noise from outside. This contributes to a more restful environment, ideal for babies or sleep-deprived parents.
The soundproofing property of blackout curtains also works both ways. In the room, the thick fabric absorbs sound, so less of it escapes through the walls. This means that if a baby cries indoors, its cries will be “muffled” so you can still hear it from the next room, but it won’t travel as far or as loud as it would without the curtains.
How to Choose Blackout Curtains for the Children’s Room
Knowing the correct curtain width, you need
Start by measuring the width of the window you want to cover. A basic rule of thumb when buying curtains is that the width should be at least twice the width of the window. If you want to look fuller and more pleated, you can go up to three times the window’s width.
Once you know the total width of the curtains, decide how many curtains you want. A single curtain is perfect for narrower or smaller windows, but for larger windows that span an entire wall, you may need two curtains that open in the middle.
If you have two curtains, divide the total width by two, and that’s the width you’ll be looking for each curtain.
Otherwise, you can book a free measurement and estimate at home and get a 40% discount on custom-made curtains.
Decide what type of curtain and accessories you need
There are two main blackout curtains – pinch pleat curtains and eyelet curtains – and they require slightly different configurations.
If you have a curtain track installed, your only option is pinch curtains and a few curtain hooks if you don’t have one.
If you’ve installed a curtain track, eyelet curtains will be easy to install. They slide through the bar by alternating the pleats without needing additional accessories. You can also choose pinch pleated curtains, but you will also need a packet of curtain rings in addition to the hooks.
If you don’t have anything installed, you can buy curtain rod sets online, which are easy to install. The ones you can buy at Curtain Wonderland are available in various modern and antique designs in wood and metal. They include wall brackets and installation instructions and are expandable in length to fit most, if not all, window widths.
Choose fabric color and style.
This is the most fun part but probably the longest. Block-out curtains are available in different fabric textures, from smooth and silky to rustic and coarse.
To help you select, Curtain Wonderland has a handy color filter in the top right corner of its category pages. Select the color you like (you can choose more than one), and the search results will display all relevant options.