Best Window Treatment to Block Out Street Lights?

[Ro_Laren]

I have two street lights located at/near the front yard of my house, which really sticks ‘cause my bedroom is at the front of my house. I’ve had curtains on my windows, but one of the curtain rods keeps ripping out of the wall. Each time it rips out I patch it up and then it inevitably starts to rip out again: the last time I patched it up was about a year ago and it is already ripping out of the wall. What sort of window treatment do you guys recommend? I was considering shutters, but they are ridiculously expensive. My next idea is to put up white wood blinds. Has anyone ever used them? Do they still let light in on the sides? Does anyone recommend any other type of window treatment?

 

[UssGlenn]

I've got blackout roller shades in my study. If you mount them over rather than within the window you can minimize light spillage.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I've got blackout roller shades in my study. If you mount them over rather than within the window you can minimize light spillage.

100% agree, blackout roller shades are the best way to block unwelcome light.

 

[Ro_Laren]

I've got blackout roller shades in my study. If you mount them over rather than within the window you can minimize light spillage.

Can you install them between the window and blinds? Meaning that someone would only see it outside if I pulled it down at night? If I used a blackout roller shade, I wouldn't want it to be visible from the outside (or inside unless I'm looking up at the window from the sill) unless I pulled it down.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I hada similar problem with my house with a street light that isn't that far away. I solved it with dark drapes mounted over the window and blinds.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I have wood blinds in three rooms, including white ones in my bedroom. I love them! I do get a little leakage around the sides, but not enough to disturb me at night.

 

[auntiehill]

Get a curtain rod that is much larger than the window and that pulls away from the window a little bit. Mount the blinds on the outside of the window, then put heavy drapes--blackout lining on the back, preferably or drapes with separate blackout curtains attached. You can get any of these things fairly cheaply at Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, wherever.

Your curtain rod is pulling out of the wall because it's not mounted properly. Take the whole thing down, get a cheap stud-finder from the hardware store---find a stud and re-mount the whole thing on the studs. That way, it won't keep coming down and taking chunks of the drywall with it. Just take a few minutes of work and then you'll never have to touch the window treatments again.

 

[Christopher]

The simpler alternative is to buy a sleep mask.

 

[Sephiroth]

Brick /Grumpycat

 

[Trekker4747]

I agree with Christopher, mount the curtain support properly. It shouldn't pull out of the wall if the support is mounted to studs. Hell if drywall is all there is to drill into (which I doubt) a set of drywall screws with butterfly mounts on them will be an improvement. (These have little "wings" that open up inside the wall to prevent the screw from pulling out.) But there's no reason there's no stud near the window and if the rod is mounted to studs it should be there forever. That with a good set of black-out curtains should make the room as dark as the far side of the moon.

 

[auntiehill]

Wow, I really AM invisible on the board, aren't I?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The simpler alternative is to buy a sleep mask.

Or a pellet gun.

 

[sojourner]

paint.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

paint.

It'd be easier to shoot the light out than climb up there and paint it

 

[Trekker4747]

Wow, I really AM invisible on the board, aren't I?

Sorry, mis-attributed the stud/proper mounting suggestion.

I wouldn't say finding/buying a stud-finder is necessary, though. The studs should be right next to the window (I mean, that IS how they mount it!) Barring that tapping the wall with a hammer and listening for a dense, heavy, sound that doesn't have an echo to it.

 

[sojourner]

paint.

It'd be easier to shoot the light out than climb up there and paint it

Paint the windows.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Well my family's cheap-ass method was covering the windows with aluminum foil. Ugly, but works great.

 

[auntiehill]

^Also great for marking a building as the local crack house.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I have wood blinds in three rooms, including white ones in my bedroom. I love them! I do get a little leakage around the sides, but not enough to disturb me at night.

Never mind. My wood blinds leak a lot of light! I guess I'd forgotten because it doesn't bother me.

 

[Green Shirt]

Wow, I really AM invisible on the board, aren't I?

Are you on everybody's ignore list, or something?


Personally, I'm invisible when driving. Nobody seems to see me, no matter what kind of car I'm in.