Blackout Roller Shades are usually not the best choice for what they are named for. Because of the construction of the shades, they tend to have large gaps on the sides, which allow a lot of light to enter the room. Different companies, like Hunter Douglas, Levolor, Graber and others have made efforts to eliminate the gaps by moving the fabric closer to the ends of the rolls or adding large metal channels to the sides of the window to enclose the ends of the fabric, thus helping eliminate the light that enters. The newest entry to this specialized market is Norman Window Fashions. Since they are the world’s largest shutter manufacturer, they pulled some very low-tech solutions into the roller shade market to fix this long standing problem.

LightGuard Feature

There is a small piece of angled wood trim that is mounted to the sides of the frame that the roller shade snugs up to. This does a great job of eliminating the edge gap. This is not a 100% light blocking solution. It is far from pitch black, but it is “light”years ahead of the same shade without the LightGuard feature.

The other feature that you should pay attention to is the dual roller system which allows you to have two different opacities on the same window. For example, in the video, you can see the front shade is a sheer and the rear shade is the blackout type we’ve been talking about. For another example of a dual roller shade, view another of Kempler Design’s videos on YouTube.

Kempler Design is based in Reno Nevada and services northern Nevada and Lake Tahoe. Paul Kempler is a window fashions expert and is available for consultation and design work by arrangement in areas throughout the United States. Kempler Design has been featured on HGTV’s Dream Home program, and has worked with clients or is hired by interior designers on many prestigious projects. Contact Kempler Design at info@kemplerdesign.com or 775 857 3100.