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Everything you need to know about Blackout Shades

There are many types of shades and even more types of fabrics to make them. All this makes the process of selecting the best option for each space in your home a bit exhausting.

Today we bring you a summary of everything you need to know about blackout roller shades, so that you can easily choose where to place them and if they are the ideal shades for the different spaces in your home.

What is a Blackout Shade?

Closeup of a blackout roller shade

A blackout shade is made of a fabric that blocks 100% of the light coming from the outside, allowing total privacy inside. If the fabric blocks the light by 99%, it is no longer considered a blackout, but a darkening fabric.

Blackout Shades Benefits

Roller Blackout shade blocking some of the exterior light in a living room.

Blackout shades are an excellent choice for many of the spaces in your home, here are some benefits:

-Light control: the main benefit of any blackout shades is the absolute control of the entry of light into your spaces, achieving total light blockage.

-Sound insulation: thanks to its composition, blackout fabrics absorb and block the outside noise. There are different studies that prove that noise pollution affects adequate rest and quality of life.

-Thermal insulation: blackout fabrics also have the ability to insulate the interior temperature of the room. This function is especially useful as it contributes to saving energy at home. In winter, the room stays warm, and during the summer, it maintains a cool temperature, avoiding the excessive use of heating or air conditioning.

-Easy to clean: at Vertilux we offer blackout vinyl fabrics that can be washed in a 5% detergent-water solution. Other Blackout fabric options in our collection can be easily cleaned with a vacuum cleaner, always keeping a distance of approximately 10-15 cm to care for the fabric.

-Antibacterial and antifungal: Vertilux offers blackout fabrics that are proven to void any bacterial or fungi growth, therefore, they are excellent for nurseries, indoor playgrounds, schools, hospitals, or any room that needs to remain ultra clean and healthy.

Where to add Blackout Shades?

Kid’s bedroom with a blackout shade.
At Home

Blackout shades are ideal and highly functional in the following residential spaces:

-Bedrooms: they provide privacy and improve rest.

-Nurseries: they help improve the quality of sleep, prevent the passage of outside light and attenuate noise.

-Living rooms with TV: allows you to achieve an immersive experience if you enjoy home theater-type devices.

-Darkroom: if you are a professional photographer or you dedicate yourself to it as a hobby, they are ideal to achieve perfect darkness for the development of films.

In commercial spaces
Roller blackout shade in a lobby.

Blackout shades are functional in the following commercial spaces:

-Conference rooms: where videos are projected or screens are used for videoconferences.

-Hospitals or health Centers: where patients need a different rest routine than usual, blackout shades help to achieve a completely dark room, allowing rest for many more hours. They are also useful for health personnel break rooms between shifts.

-Child care facilities, schools and colleges: where the little ones need to take a nap, in projection rooms for students, and even at teachers and administrative offices.

-Hotel rooms: they are very popular and can be installed in a dual shade, combining a blackout roller shade with translucent draperies, or even two roller shades, one blackout and the other translucent or screen.

Aesthetics and functionality in a single shade

Rollux® Toledo Blackout Shade with side channels in an apartment.

Blackout shades are the perfect combination between functionality and aesthetics, you can enjoy all its benefits without sacrificing the decoration of your spaces.

At Vertilux we have more than 20 different patterns and more than 160 colors to choose from. We have plain blackout fabrics and a variety of decorative fabrics as well, which in addition to allowing you to control the light in your spaces, add a distinctive and unique touch to your decoration.

Endless Possibilities

Bedroom with blackout roller shades.

Vertilux blackout roller shades are one of the best options available on the market. Our fabrics, operating mechanisms and finishes are exceptional. You can operate blackout shades manually with our best-selling VTX® Clutches, or you can automate them using one of our Celtic motors plus the VTi® Smart Hub. You can choose a single blackout shade, or you can optimize the functionality and beauty of your windows by combining a blackout fabric and a translucent or screen fabric in the same window. Last but not least, remember to ask your designer or window covering retailer about the different side channels available to add to the sides of your blackout shades to ensure a total blackout.

Other blackout solutions: Draperies, Cellular Shades, Vertical Blinds.

Even though this article has focused on blackout roller shades, there are other blackout solutions available to you, like blackout drapes, blackout cellular shades, and even vertical blinds with blackout fabrics -although some light will still go through the vanes.

Conclusion

If you are looking for functional and aesthetic shades for your spaces, blackout shades are the perfect option. You get countless benefits without sacrificing the decoration of your windows. Dare to make them part of your decoration!

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