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Watching movies during the day — especially on a projector — means dealing with light pollution, which can lead to glare, or wash out your image completely. Even if you’re watching TV or using your computer, the light seeping in from the outside can make it difficult to get a clear picture on screen.
Whether you’re building out your home theater or just want to improve conditions for working from home, you’ll want to swap your generic blinds and drapes for a set of blackout curtains.
A lot of us don’t have a dedicated, window-free home theater space, but you can get one step closer with a set of blackout curtains. These curtains function like regular window coverings, though they are thicker and heavier than normal, which allow them to block more sunlight from getting into your room.
The best blackout curtains help create a darker, more immersive viewing area, can help insulate the room, and go a long way towards helping you sleep better too.
What You Need to Know Before Buying Blackout Curtains
There are many factors to think about when choosing the right blackout curtains for you; below are the most important ones, which we considered while we were researching this list.
What They Do: Having a dark room is great for watching movies, but there are a couple of other benefits to hanging blackout curtains. First, letting less sunlight into your room will make it cooler when the weather is hot; the thick material will also insulate the area by your windows, letting less heat escape during the cool seasons. By temperature controlling your room, you may have to adjust your HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) system less often, which can save you money.
Second, sunlight can damage more than just the image of your movie screen. Over time, exposure to sunlight can make colors on your carpets, posters, or wallpaper start to fade.
And the best blackout curtains could be a not-so-secret hack to helping you fall asleep faster too, especially if you are sensitive to light. These curtains are often used in hotel rooms, to seal out any outside light, creating a truly dark and comfortable environment for you to fall asleep in.
Light and UV protection: You’re getting these curtains to block out the sunlight, so all of our picks are rated to block 99% to 100% of light and UV (ultraviolet rays). Some light may leak in through the tops and middle seam if they’re the incorrect size.
Style:Curtains can get hung on a rod in a couple of ways: via grommets (circular holes at the top, which the rod gets pushed through), or fabric loops. There’s no significant performance difference between the two, but some light may leak through in the area between the grommets and your curtain rod depending on its girth.
Length:Every window is different; we made sure to pick curtains that come in multiple lengths, so they’ll fit the window you’re planning on using it for, with the option of getting more for different rooms in your house.
Patterns:Curtains — regardless of their purpose — should match the decor of the room they’re in, so we looked for ones that come in multiple colors and patterns.
Maintenance:None of these curtains will need to be taken down with any regularity, but we made sure each one was machine-washable, just in case someone accidentally spills something on them or they get too dusty.
