My old neighbor would leave her porch light on all night. This really shouldn’t have concerned me except for the fact that when I would lay my head on my pillow at night, her light would be aimed directly in my face. My old neighbor was a sweetheart, so I would never have said a word about it to her. But what’s a girl to do? I had a problem and I needed an answer. My inspiration came, during a particularly restless night’s sleep: room-darkening curtains! I had been meaning to replace the panels I had hanging in my bedroom since I moved in. I’d used the rods from the previous owner and they were wimpy and hung too low. In the middle of the 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). I slept like an old dog every night in that house after that. (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, the why buy room-darkening curtains list includes:
Saving Money on Your Heating/Cooling Bills is One of The Best Reasons to Buy Room-Darkening Curtains
Because room-darkening curtains are thick, they have an R-Value. This is 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 curtains insulate! This is great news for you and for Planet Earth. Room-darkening curtains will keep more cold out in winter and more cool in in summer. Draw your room-darkening curtains and save yourself some cash!
Preventing Fading of Furniture, Artwork and Rugs is a Reason to Buy Room Darkening Curtains
If you keep room-darkening curtains 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 a Starry Night or their red, Chippendale sofa to turn pink. So consider room-darkening curtains to protect these investments.
A Final Reason: Getting a Better Fall and Richer Look at Your Window
The benefits of room-darkening curtains don’t stop there. Because they are “thicker” by design they tend to fall better at the window line. Room-darkening curtains fall better than their unlined or lightly-lined brethren. Choosing these panels, therefor, gives you a better fall to the curtain and a richer look, without the expense of custom-made, heavily-lined drapes. It’s a little, budget-friendly decorator trick worth exploring.
And don’t forget to check your local consignment store or thrift shop for these room-darkening curtains. At Consignments Ltd. we often have room-darkening panels, many times new in the package. People buy the wrong size, wrong shade, etc. and then fail to return them, so they consign them. It will save you some cash if you score them this way. However you acquire them, the benefits of room-darkening curtains are worth it.
For more on cost-effective design ideas, check out me previous blogs: Affordable Home Updates: The Thrift Version and What To Splurge on Vs. Thrift For in Home Decor.
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