Can you see through Venetian blinds at night?

Can you see through Venetian blinds at night? No, assuming that your blind is fully closed and is a good fit for the window.

When we say “Venetian blinds,” we’re usually talking about aluminium Venetian blinds, and aluminium is of course a totally opaque, impermeable material. Both wooden blinds and faux-wood blinds are also technically types of Venetian blinds too though, and again, these are solid in construction and don’t allow anyone to see in.

There is only one exception to the rule that you can’t see through Venetian blinds at night, and this applies when you’re talking about Venetian blinds with perforated slats. In this blog post, I’ll explain what can be seen through perforated Venetian blinds at night, whether or not people can see through the lift cord holes in regular Venetian blinds, and cover any potential errors or faults that could result in someone being able to see in through Venetian blinds.

Can you see through Venetian blinds at night when the blind is fully closed?

No. Assuming that your Venetian blind of any type is fully closed and with the slats of the blind closed and lying flush as well, you can’t see through Venetian blinds. A little light might escape via the holes that the blind’s lift cords pass through, which means that they don’t function as blackout blinds and might, by virtue of allowing light to escape, allow someone externally to tell if you’re in (or more to the point, that you have a light on) or not, but people can’t see through Venetian blinds at night.

Can you see through Venetian blind lift cord holes?

The tiny holes in Venetian blind slats are necessary to allow their lift cords to pass through them, and it is these tiny holes that may allow a little light to escape (and if it’s light outside, to allow light in too).

However, these really do only leave a gap the size of a pinprick in each spot that they pass through, and they’re far too small to allow anyone, even someone determined and standing right up against your window, to get any view at all of anything inside.

Can you see through perforated Venetian blinds at night?

Perforated Venetian blinds have small, uniform holes all along their slats, which allow light into a room even when the blind is fully closed.

But can you see through Venetian blinds at night if your blind is perforated? Certainly not clearly. Whilst these perforations will emit light and allow someone outside to know that your lights are on, the most anyone would be able to see through them (even if standing up close) might be very indistinct shadows or silhouettes, particularly of movement; but nothing clear or detailed.

Are there any faults or potential issues that could enable people to see in through Venetian blinds at night?

Nobody can see through a closed Venetian blind at night when it comes to the material of the blind itself; aluminium slats being totally opaque! The lift cord holes don’t allow anyone to see in through them either.

However, if your blind’s slats aren’t closed completely flat, this might permit small horizontal gaps through which a very determined person outside could angle their heads to see in.

If your blind was closed/down but with the slats tilted open and the lights inside on, someone outside and up close could get a reasonably clear view of inside if they had the right angle to do so.

Also, if the blind’s slats got damaged and didn’t lie flush anymore, this might allow gaps through which someone could see.

If your Venetian blind isn’t a good fit for the window, and has, say, any gaps at the bottom or sides, someone might be able to get a view of inside through these gaps. The same applies if you’re using two Venetian blinds side by side to cover a particularly large window, and they don’t quite meet in the middle or if they meet over an area of glass rather than a mullion, which once more, may allow someone determined to see in.

All of these caveats really only apply if the theoretical watcher is on the same level as the window/blind – for instance, at street level, or if higher up, in another building on a comparable floor.

If you have Venetian blinds in an upstairs window and the only line of sight to it is from the street at ground level with someone looking up, even issues such as these are highly unlikely to allow anyone to see in!