What colour is best for blackout blinds?

What colour is best for blackout blinds? As long as the blinds you choose are clearly marked as officially being blackout blinds, the colour of the blind doesn’t matter at all. Not all types of blinds can be made with blackout functionality, but many can; and often, people think that these blinds should be or are black, or at least, a very dark colour.

This is just one of a number of common incorrect assumptions that people make about blackout blinds; and in this blog post I’ll explain why asking what colour is best for blackout blinds is probably not going to get you the answer you’re looking for, and what type of questions you need to ask instead!

What colour is best for blackout blinds?

What colour is best for blackout blinds? Any colour is fine for blackout blinds, as long as they’re definitely blackout blinds.

Some people think that blackout blinds are simply very thick, dark blinds; and they can be – but not all thick, dark coloured blinds are blackout blinds, and you can also get 100% effective blackout blinds that are white, or another very light colour too.

Using blinds to achieve a blackout doesn’t rely at all on the colour of the blind, and need not bear any relation to the thickness of the blind either. Obviously a very thick blind in any colour will probably block out all of the light, but blackout blinds that are specifically made to achieve a blackout are the same thickness as any other blind of the same type, and they don’t need to be any thicker!

Blackout blinds are created by placing a special blackout lining on the back of the blind (the side that faces the outside world, not the side facing into the room) and this lining is just a thin sheet of fabric (the material used can vary) that is impermeable to light.

What colour is best for blackout blinds is kind of an un-question then. The colour of your blinds is far less important than the type of blinds you choose and how you hang them when it comes to achieving a full blackout in your room, or as close to a full blackout as it is possible to achieve.

Do blackout blinds have to be black?

Definitely not! You can get blackout blinds in any colour of your choosing (or any colour that the company you’re buying from supply), including white blackout blinds.

Here’s a bit of a plot twist too; the actual blackout part of the blind or rather, the special lining that turns an average blind into a supersonic light-fighting blackout blind is often white, particularly on blackout roman blinds. The lining faces away from the room, so that what people outside see of the blind when it is closed is simply a white colour. On the other side of the blind, the side facing into your house, the blind could be any colour you like, and might be patterned or printed too.

Does the colour of blackout blinds matter?

No, not as far as how the colour affects the blind’s blackout capabilities. Colour doesn’t matter at all when it comes to blackout blinds.

However, ensuring that the type of blind you buy is a proper blackout blind (and not just a blind that looks thick and sturdy, or one that appears dark enough to block the sun on its own merits) is vital to getting a full blackout in your room, as is how you hang your blind too.

Blackout blinds block all of the light that hits the fabric itself, but it is how you hang the blind that dictates how much light leakage, if any, escapes around the sides of the blind.

The best way to maximise your chances of achieving a full blackout is to buy a blind to hang outside of or over the window recess (rather inside of the recess) and with a margin of at least 10cm over the size of the recess on each of the four sides of the wall too.

This will achieve a full blackout or virtually full blackout for the vast majority of scenarios; but if you find that you can still see a faint glow or chink of light from the sides of the blind and this is annoying you, buying two sets of blackout blinds and hanging one inside of the window recess and the other over it will achieve a 100% full blackout without fail.