Help me sleep at night!

September 2, 2015 6:18 AM

I have a new apartment. There are lovely big windows, but there aren't any curtains - and the rod is so flimsy that it likely can only support the lightest of linens. Unfortunately, there is a big orange streetlight directly outside, and that leads to sleepless nights. What color and material of curtain might mitigate this issue?

I don't need it fully blocked out, but I'd like it toned down a little from "spotlight" levels - so really, I just want the best bang for the buck given my weight constraints.

posted by Conspire to Home & Garden (25 answers total)

I would just get a new curtain rod and some thick blackout curtains....but I need it to be really dark to sleep well....
posted by Captain_Science at 6:25 AM on September 2, 2015 [15 favorites]

I've heard good things about cell shades and have them on my shopping list. This one seems to require no tools so you can bypass the rod for light blocking and just have something flimsy on the rod over them.
posted by tilde at 6:25 AM on September 2, 2015

I have paper shades in some of my windows. They have a glue strip on top. You cut them to fit and then press and stick them in the window frame. They come out without damaging the paint as well. These might suit your needs. I got mine at Target, they're maybe $10?
posted by headspace at 6:26 AM on September 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Aluminum foil is very opaque for its weight, but obviously it's also kind of hideous.
posted by mskyle at 6:36 AM on September 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I just moved and I'm currently using a dark-blue sheet I hung up across my window with some twine for exactly the same purpose. It's not a particularly thick sheet, but it basically blocks out all of the orange light from the street-lamp. I've been curious if the dark blue somehow mitigates the orange-light better or something.

Worse comes to worse, it's a stop gap until you can get something more permanent.
posted by mayonnaises at 6:37 AM on September 2, 2015

I've been contemplating ordering a cardboard sheet slightly smaller than the size of my window and covering it with fancy contact paper. I figure during the day I could just take it down and slide it under my bed.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:47 AM on September 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'd invest in a new curtain rod and some blackout curtains. Spackle in the holes when you move out.
posted by tckma at 6:48 AM on September 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

There are curtains and shades specifically marketed as "blackout" or "room darkening," in all sorts of styles and prices. This one is super duper cheap and just sticks on!
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:51 AM on September 2, 2015

Sleep mask, the contoured kind that follows your face curves to block out maximum light.
posted by rada at 6:52 AM on September 2, 2015 [7 favorites]

I think the problem with the stick-on things is that you can't easily take them out and put them back if you want light during the day. Some people don't care about that, in which case they're probably your cheapest and easiest option.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:54 AM on September 2, 2015

I go to bed a few hours before my partner, usually, and all of the doors* in our (rental) house are made of glass, for some unfathomable reason. I struggle to sleep when there's a lot of ambient light, but he needs light to do things, so we hung thin blackout material (like this) on the inside of the door using strong velcro. Could you stick some velcro strips to the wall above the window and do something similar? Painting over any marks from the adhesive might be easier when you move than filling holes from a new curtain rail. It's also pretty easy to put up and take down.



*Including the bathroom door. Either the landlady or the previous tenants hung a curtain inside the door...but the curtain is pretty easy to see through as well. So we operate a "don't look don't tell" policy.
posted by terretu at 6:55 AM on September 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I just went through a very similar experience - moved into a new place with 9-foot windows that face east, so we're getting every single ray of the morning sun (bonus points for moving on solstice, so the first week or two the bedroom got bright at ridiculous o'clock AM). We did order sleep masks, and they solve the problem nicely. Just be warned that if you go this route, Amazon's next suggestion for you will probably be a vegan flogger.
posted by spinturtle at 7:31 AM on September 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

If the problem is that you're renting and can't put up a decent curtain rod, check with your landlord to see if they'll do it (or allow you to). In some areas, it's required that rentals have curtains or blinds.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:56 AM on September 2, 2015

In a lot of places, landlords aren't allowed to stop you from having window coverings. Hang a better rod, or if you're absolutely sure you can't put anything up, you can use 4-6 of the heavy duty Command hooks and suspend a rod or dowel that way.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:18 AM on September 2, 2015

Use a tension rod. It tightens inside the window frame and the thicker ones are strong enough to hold much heavier drapes. They do not leave any marks or require any installation, so they're perfect for apartments. I use them in all my windows and they work great.
posted by raisingsand at 8:20 AM on September 2, 2015 [3 favorites]

I recently got one of these masks. I love it so much I got a second so that I don't have to be without it when one is in the wash.
posted by pixiecrinkle at 8:23 AM on September 2, 2015

I have this fake etched glass cling-film stuck to my window and it defuses the outside light (still light but not spotlight), plus provides privacy. There is also coloured/patterned ones if you want something different.
posted by hydrobatidae at 8:23 AM on September 2, 2015

We went to Joann Fabric and got some material specifically for black out at our rental house. It was pretty cheap.
posted by getawaysticks at 8:38 AM on September 2, 2015

I just taped trash bags over my windows until I could go get heavy blackout curtains but then 4 years went by and that never happened. HOWEVER, I have thick dark wooden wide-slatted venetian blinds in my living room that do a great job of blocking out a good deal of light. I can successfully nap on my couch during the day.

So I would find out about whether or not you can install, at your expense alas, heavier supports for wooden blinds. Otherwise, trash bag splendor awaits.
posted by poffin boffin at 8:39 AM on September 2, 2015

Response by poster: To clarify, I need a partial solution that still lets some light through because I get super groggy in the morning if I don't get woken up by natural light. So black-out stuff won't work well for me. Ideally, I'd want something that filters out the orange glare, but otherwise still lets light in - it's the color that bothers me more than the intensity of the light.
posted by Conspire at 8:54 AM on September 2, 2015

If you want something you can put in at night but remove by the day, I'd try improvising some kind of cardboard contraption that fits in place during the night, but can be removed and folded away during the day. A giant sheet of cardboard with a couple joints where it can be folded (made of duct-tape or whatnot), and you can reinforce cardboard using a long strip of cardboard folded width-wise so it looks like an L when viewed edge-on.

Add some stuff for hooking it into place, or velcro, or something. Paint the outside face if you think it's unsightly to your neighbors, or just fail to care what they think. Sleep well.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:58 AM on September 2, 2015

In that case, I would think blue curtains (either sheers or full but unlined, a blue fabric (like, just go to the fabric store if there's any left in your area, or you can fancy up and get something online) or blue-tinted film is probably your best bet. Or a sheet.

We have cheap (Eclipse) "blackout" curtains in two rooms with east-facing windows that get direct blasting-bright California sun for several hours every morning, and only the black ones actually block a substantial amount of light. The room with the brown curtains is not blindingly bright, but I can see through them when the sun is directly on them. They are sheer enough to be annoying to a person who wanted a dark room.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:15 AM on September 2, 2015

Can you position your bed so that the window is behind you? That way the light's not shining right in your face. Is the light coming from above? That would be cool because then you could block the top half of the window and knock out most of the orange streetlight but leave the bottom half only lightly curtained so that the sunrise would still light the room in the morning.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:16 AM on September 2, 2015

Seconding paper accordion shades upthread--cheap, easy to glue on and remove, can be cut to size, pushed up during the day, and available in white or black. They're available online and in some of the Big Box stores.
posted by Elsie at 9:32 AM on September 2, 2015

You can get dark blue mini blinds (venetian blinds with narrow slats) at home depot or lowe's. They are fairly cheap and come with mounting hardware. They don't block all the light but they help a lot.
posted by H21 at 11:15 AM on September 2, 2015