Peering into the darkness (of the curtains)

December 17, 2020 4:00 PM

Please help me find the right terms to search for a way to cover one window that meets a wall in a corner, without letting light in along the corner side. Or maybe even just link me to a product I can buy.

This is for a bedroom that needs to be dark. My search for "corner curtain rod" has gotten me shower curtain, bay window curtain, and two windows together around a corner.

This first two options are clearly wrong, and the problem with the second option is I don't understand how you match up the finial, rod, etc with one curtain instead of having two curtains meet at the corner. I also can't tell which curtain rod "sets" are amenable to attaching a corner connector to. I do at least know that searching "wraparound curtain bracket" has so far gotten me the whole rod in the results but not just the brackets to which I could attach...a rod.

I do not care about the curtains being "lopsided" widthwise. The darkness of the room is the most important part of the end goal.

The previous question I could find that seems to come close is this one from 2010 that seems to be about two windows that meet in a corner.

What I'm dealing with is one window that jams right into a corner.

posted by bilabial to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Best answer: Get this, call it a day. (although my actual suggestion is get a good eyemask instead of futilely trying to make the room dark)
posted by brainmouse at 4:07 PM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

You can do this with a regular curtain rod, just dont attach a final to the side with the corner, and move the rod over to where it touches the wall. Then just make sure to arrange the pleat near the curtain edge so the end curves into the wall (i.e. the edge of the fabric is on the window side of the rod, not the room side).

To further secure the edge so no light gets in, you can use binder clips attached to command hooks and clip the edge of the curtain to the wall in a few spots down the length so you dont have to fiddle with it when you open and close it.
posted by ananci at 4:07 PM on December 17, 2020

Response by poster: There are more than a dozen products on that page, brainmouse. Can you tell me in words which “this” you mean?
posted by bilabial at 4:11 PM on December 17, 2020

I think the key part of brainmouse's answer is the one labeled 'corner solution.' Vidga is a series of pieces of curtain track, like a model railroad set, and you install to the wall or ceiling. Install on ceiling a few inches in front of window, mapping the track out as you like, including a round corner piece. Or encircle your bed like it's the hospital.
posted by cobaltnine at 4:22 PM on December 17, 2020

There are curtain rods like these that you can install above the window (and probably as close to the ceiling and the corner as you need to. The curtain will wrap around the side, but you may need to secure it to the wall for maximum darkness. ("Valance rod" seems to be a decent search term for that sort of thing.)
posted by edencosmic at 4:48 PM on December 17, 2020

You can also either sew in magnets or velcro onto the side of the curtain that'll be in the corner and attach magnets or velcro to the wall so that they can stick together and not leave any gaps.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:22 PM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

In case it’s helpful, for the Alaskan summer where we’d like it to be dark at night but it’s not, I use two layers of dark fleece fabric as blackout curtains. I just use cafe clips, but you could hem the bottoms and sew on curtain rings if you wanted to be fancy.
posted by leahwrenn at 9:18 PM on December 17, 2020

We had blackout shades that fit into the casement of the window, and they covered the window completely from side to side and top to bottom. Then we just put whatever curtain we wanted over it and called it a day.

(this was at our previous house and we're planning on doing the same in our new house)
posted by cooker girl at 8:37 AM on December 18, 2020