Too Much Light Makes The Lady Go Blind
January 27, 2010 6:17 PM   Subscribe

Ideas for eco-friendly curtains?

I'm looking for some heavy-duty curtains to prevent light from entering my room from the rooms it abuts (there are French doors between my room and the living room; glass blocks between my room and the kitchen). It also sounds like most curtains are treated with flame retardants and other chemicals I'd like to steer clear of.

Any suggestions for eco-friendly, toxics-free "blackout" (or effectively blackout) curtains to block the light from mine eyes?

Thanks, MeFites!
posted by airguitar2 to Home & Garden (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
If you are crafty, you could make your own curtains using vintage wool blankets from a thrift store. Use the wool as a lining and sew two layers of dark fabric over them. The advantage to using wool (or silk) is that it is naturally flame retardant without chemicals.
posted by pluckysparrow at 7:41 PM on January 27, 2010


How about making your own?

My dad made curtains for my bedroom when I was growing up out of some old patterned sheets. They looked pretty good too. Granted, just the couple layers of sheets wouldn't give you blackout conditions, but if you added another layer (maybe paperboard?) of something opaque you could probably get pretty close.

And nothing is more eco-friendly than reusing!
posted by chiefthe at 7:42 PM on January 27, 2010


You could avoid fabric altogether by having some shutters made. Don't know if you'd get 100% blackout that way. Or along the same lines, wooden blinds.
posted by lakeroon at 9:50 PM on January 27, 2010


You can make your own roller shades - using "oil cloth" fabric will give you a black-out effect, and it's back in style and easy to find.
posted by shifafa at 11:26 PM on January 27, 2010


Not a specific suggestion, but bamboo fabric is frequently touted as "green" when in reality it's more or less rayon using bamboo fiber as a cellulose source. In fact, the FTC recently sued some manufacturers of bamboo fabrics to prevent them from making claims about bamboo's properties.
posted by electroboy at 7:14 AM on January 28, 2010


Response by poster: Thanks, all! The space doesn't really allow for roller shades, though that's a great idea.

I looked up IKEA curtains and found some 100% cotton ones... not sure if they're coated or not. Any ideas about this?
posted by airguitar2 at 1:46 PM on January 28, 2010


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