Most efficient means of blacking out a window?

Well, not necessarily the most efficient, as I don't fancy painting my windows black. There has to be a compromise in everything

I'm trying to prepare a room for projector use. I have installed an Ikea blackout roller blind over a recessed window. The blind is fitted outside the recess and overlaps the wall by a couple of inches on each side. The blind is not flush with the wall though, so there is light spilling out. During the day the room is not really dark at all, and at night there is about a foot of reflected streetlight just to the left of where I intend to put the projector screen.

What is the best method of dealing with this? Another blind inside the recess? Somehow fixing the edges of the blind to the wall? Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

Or am I overestimating the need for pitch darkness? I understand even the best PJ for contrast levels will not be able to output black unless the wall itself is totally dark.

[LV426]

You could consider darker decor. This will have the added benefit of reducing the washing-out effect of stray reflected light from the projected image.

Re-decorating certainly has been considered, but it's pretty unlikely at this stage. It would increase the budget quite significantly, and I don't really have that much to play with.

Just had a thought - what if I was to only paint the recess itself a much darker colour? It is over a foot in depth so I assume a lot of the light spilling in is being reflected off the sides of the recess... hmmm....

[Tonmeistermat]

I find bricks are very effective at getting rid of light...

With a recess that deep I'd certainly consider another blackout blind inside the recess up against the window. Also, are curtains out of the question? They may not fit with your decor, but we have both curtains and a blackout blind - certainly gets rid of enough of the light for our purposes.

Mat

Curtains are looking like the most desirable solution.

The problem is getting a rail that is going to fit with the blind in place and will also keep the curtains close to the wall so I don't just get more light escaping through...

If I mount it above the blind there also seem to be 'pelmet' things which would hide the blind and possible block light escaping upwards, but I have no idea if that's the case (just looking at a picture at the moment!)

Do you mind if I ask what sort of rail you have?

[Tonmeistermat]

No problem!

I've just got a regular curtain track (not a pole) above the window and the blackout blind is in the recess. The blind is the same colour as the curtains, so when it's up and the curtains are open you don't really notice it. It sounds like that would be your ideal solution - the blind fitted inside the recess, flush to the window, and the curtains sitting directly above the recess. I've made the curtain rail about a foot wider than the window opening, more for the effect of making it look like we've got bigger windows, but with the added benefit of limiting spill at the side. I'll try and get you a picture tonight if I can, a picture tells a thousand words!

Mat

[Tonmeistermat]

Didn't manage a pic last night... will try tonight.

OK thanks. I may be limited from having a similar set-up, the roller blind is already installed outside the recess (the inner wall of the recess is not 100% straight and would make it difficult) but it's always good to get ideas.

I think what I need is a curtain track that is only attached at the two ends and projects 4-5cm from the wall. This could then go underneath the blind and still be tight enough to the wall.

[davee]

A Roman Blind with 6 inches overlap on the sides should do you. Being flat it will sit tight to the sides, the top is fully covered and the length can be made to exactly fit the drop of your window. Works a treat

[john59]

Heres an idea, black out material, and those white or black velcro pads you can get at B+Q for about £6 i think. simply cut the BO material to size and stick the velcro pads to the window frame (if white PVC use the white velcro pads) and sew the other side of the pads to the BO material then simply put up the blackout when needed and take down again when not needed .
Hope this helps
Regards
John.

[digisocialist]

Window Shutters? 2 bits of MDF hinged to the inside of the window recess, which meet in the middle. One of them should have a piece of edging that overlaps the other...

We could always learn from the Photographers and adopt the extreme lengths by which they go to make a 'darkroom'. I believe they use heavy black fabric or plastic backed by aluminum, stretched over a frame which can be lifted into place.

[AMc]

In our baby's room we had a similar problem. The idea there is to make the room so dark she doesn't wake up at dawn in the summer

I started with a blackout blind, not very satisfactory due to light spill over the top and at the sides.
Then we added curtains, and then lined curtains - still a lot of spill around the edge.
Then a pelmet on the top (surprisingly effective)

Finally I fitted strips of wood to the outer edge of the recess and another that overlaps the blind at the front so the blind runs in a groove 'behind' them. Hard to explain, but you can't see the edge of the blind at all and it's held flush against the recess. The channels stop just above the bottom of the pelmet so the fabric can run up onto the roller and I put felt pads on the top to stop the fabric snagging.

All that said in my lounge we have 3/4 length victorian shutters and no curtains with a street light 10 feet outside the front window. The PJ screen is on the opposite side of the room and as long as you wait until after sunset the amount of light cast into the room is small and the picture is fine. Probably something to do with the light being so close and high up.

Before you go to heroic lengths to black out the room I would test it out with your PJ and screen - you may not need to do more than you have done already - depending on how bright your PJ.

[pemberto]

When we had the curtans made for a lounge we asked them to add a velcro strip down each edge that would sit next to the wall. On the inside of the curtain we fixed a wooden batten that was wrapped in fabric that also had a velcro edge down the side.

When the curtain were put up we just made sure that each edge was sealed by the velcro. This stops any light from coming in the room at each side. To stop light coming in from the top, we installed a pelmit.