Darkening The Room: Curtain Conundrum

Oh, the hours we've spent in the rocking chair, singing songs and reading books, trying to help someone relax and, hopefully, sleep.  That is where I first thought, "Wow- it is awfully bright in here.  We need room darkening curtains.  That would really help this boy sleep!"  I have no idea how much having a dark room helps- in fact I worry that I am training them to only sleep in dark rooms with white noise drowning out all of the ambient noise.

Room darkening or blackout curtains are sold from most places that sell curtains.  The ones I purchased from JC Penney's are no longer available, or I would recommend them.  If you already have a curtain you like, you can line them with blackout fabric or a double layer of polyester felt.  Linings can be sewn to the existing curtain if you are so inclined, though I just used safety pins to attach them.  I left extra felt on the sides of the curtains in one room, and I use that excess fabric to stuff beside the window frame and the roman shade that gaps too much.  It makes it more frustrating to re-do each time we open the window, but the results are fantastic, and it is certainly a cheap option.

The trouble with room darkening curtains is that our eyes adjust so well to different levels of light.  Once you block 80% of the light, all of the light spilling around the sides of a curtain seems just as bright as the whole room used to be.  To minimize this, hang the curtain as close to the wall as you can-many modern curtain rods stand out from the wall quite a bit, but that only allows more light to bounce around into the room.  Also, make sure your curtain is the right size- it should be hung 3 (or more, if possible) inches above the window, a few inches below the windowsill, and a few inches or more to the left and right of the window.

What have you tried to make your atmosphere more sleep friendly?  Did you do anything in the first year that your kids were later unable to sleep without years later?

Darkening The Room: Midnight Naptime

Yesterday, I wrote about how to reduce household sources of light that may interrupt your sleep or keep your kids distracted from falling asleep.  The biggest pain, however, tends to be sunlight (or streetlight, in some areas).  There are countless possible solutions, and after darkening a total of 6 rooms across two homes, I've learned a few tips for choosing and installing many of them. 

For a room where the occupants only sleep at night, getting either a darkening or blackout curtain or shade is often sufficient.  If you are looking to make a room dark during sunlight hours, it becomes challenging, but for naps and summer bedtimes, I find it valuable to block light in my boys' rooms.  They are less likely to play or get distracted when it comes time to rest.

Darkening and Blackout shades come in many styles, but I have yet to find mini blinds that do the job well.  All those individual pieces just increase the chance for light to get through, whether the problem is manufacturing or just what happens when a kid plays at the window.

Darkening The Room

Oh, how I love a dark bedroom.  For myself, I don't agitate my monkey brain when I wake up at night and all I see is blackness.  For the boys, the easier it is to help them fall asleep when they can't see to play and tumble about.  If I were to add up all the money we've spent on darkening our rooms (across two houses), I would likely wince to see the total.  That said, I've certainly learned a lot about interior de-lumination.

The first start is dealing with all those pesky LEDs on every baby device, ever. Electrical tape is your friend:  it is easily removable, electronics friendly, and use can experiment with one, two, or more layers, depending on what you need.  I try to keep the battery level indicator only partly covered so I can tell when it should be recharged or refilled.  If you cover LEDs on a video monitor camera, ensure you are not covering up the IR LEDs- if those are covered, you won't be able to get a video image in the dark.  The removable part is great until little fingers start picking at them, so be sure to keep the tape out of reach.