“Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.”
John Steinbeck
My neighbor leaves her porch light on all night. This really shouldn’t concern me except for the fact that when I lay my head on my pillow at night, the light is aimed directly at my face. My neighbor is a sweetheart, so I would never say a word about it to her. I didn’t say a word and 2 years later the light was still shining. So what’s a girl to do? I had a problem and I needed an answer. My inspiration came a few months back, during a particularly restless night sleep: room-darkening panels! I had been meaning to replace the panels I had hanging in my bedroom since I moved in, because I’d used the rods from the previous owner and they were whimpy and hung too low. I had a lot of other things I was dealing with when I first moved in, however, so curtains went to the bottom of a very long list. In the middle of that fateful night, however, I knew the answer to my problem was to deal with the curtains and the porch light head on. I sat up in bed at 2:30am and ordered 4 room-darkening panels and two hefty rods. Bruce and I hung the curtains by week’s end. We hung them almost at the ceiling (thereby elongating the room) and I have slept like an old dog ever since. (People always say “slept like a baby” but anyone who’s ever had a baby knows that this is not a good analogy). Besides this wonderful sleep, these panels have added benefits that I didn’t consider at the time, but have since learned and want to share with you here today. Room-darkening panels can provide wonderful, darkened-room rest, but room-darkening panels can also:
Save You Money on Your Heating/Cooling Bills
Because of the thickness of room-darkening panels and their linings (that they absolutely need to do the job), room-darkening panels have R-Value (the capacity of an insulating material to resist heat flow. The higher the R-value, the greater the insulating power). In other words, room-darkening panels insulate! This is great news for you and for Mother Earth. Room-darkening panels will keep more cold out in winter and more cool in in summer. Draw your room-darkening panels and save yourself some cash!
Prevent Fading of Furniture, Artwork and Rugs
If you keep room-darkening panels closed when you are not in the room, room-darkening panels will block a lot of light. Blocking light is a great friend to your textiles (furniture and rugs) as well as your artwork. Light fades and blocking light helps to stem the tide. No one wants their Van Gogh to fade into r Starry Night past or their red, Chippendale sofa to turn pink , so consider room-darkening panels to protect these investments.
Get a Better Fall and Richer Look at Your Window
Room-darkening curtains are “thicker” by virtue of their intent. Denser, fuller fabrics tend to fall better at the window line, so room-darkening curtains fall better than their unlined or lightly-lined brethren. Choosing these panels, therefor, gives you a better fall and a richer look, without the expense of custom-made, heavy, lined drapes. It’s a little, budget-friendly decorator trick worth exploring.
BEFORE: Light in my Eyes 
AFTER: Ahhhh….
And Now For a Little Music before We Go…
“We are all actors, set on the stage of the world, as the curtains open we put on our best performance to this audience of life.”
Anthony Liccione
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