Best Blackout Blinds For Windows June 2024 (2024)

• Bali Blackout Cellular Shades
• Levolor Light Filtering Cellular Shades
• Levolor Roller Shades
• Allen + Roth Cellular Shades
• Levolor Room Darkening Cellular Shades

Choosing the best blackout blinds for your home can be overwhelming. There are a huge number of options, styles and features to consider, not to mention the importance of choosing the right color scheme and correctly sizing the blinds to your windows. To make your life easier, here are a few key things to know when you are researching blackout blinds.

Light Filtering vs. Room Darkening vs. Blackout Blinds

One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to blackout blinds is that they are designed to let absolutely no light into your home. While you can find blinds that function this way, what most homeowners actually want is significantly reduced lighting—not a complete lack of it. When purchasing shades, you will see three common options: light filtering, room darkening and blackout.

Light Filtering Shades

Light filtering shades transform harsh, bright sunlight into a dim soft glow. These shades can allow more or less light into your room depending on the treatment style, but will let much more light in than room darkening or blackout blinds.

Room Darkening Shades

Room darkening shades fit right in between light filtering and blackout. Since true blackout shades are expensive and not always the best choice, room darkening is a great option for those homeowners who want more privacy and less light without spending a ton.

Blackout Shades

Blackout shades are designed to cut the majority of natural light entering a room and are a great choice for bedrooms, home cinemas or rooms with light-sensitive artwork. True blackout shades are designed with additional linings and darker backings, and are sized to minimize gaps between blinds and windows.

Once you have decided on the perfect level of light control for your home, the next choice you will need to make is in the type of shades for your room. The two most common types when it comes to blackout shades are cellular and roller shades. Other types of blinds like vertical, slat and wood blinds cannot fully block light or allow as much control.

Cellular shades are made of a single, continuous piece of pleated fabric, allowing them to fold up as you close them. The honeycomb-shaped pattern of air pockets (called cells) help diffuse and/or entirely block the light and are a great choice for insulating your home. These shades come in both single and double cell styles, the latter having two air pockets which will further insulate your home against uncomfortable temperatures during the summer and winter.

Roller shades are a much more affordable option but do not offer the same level of insulation as cellular shades. Roller shades are made from a single piece of fabric which, when unused, rolls up around itself at the top of your window. These shades typically present a more affordable option, especially when compared to blackout cellular blinds, but they are less stylish and do not offer the same level of temperature insulation.

A final consideration when choosing the best blackout shades for your home is the way you control the shades. When you think of blinds, you may think of long cords guaranteed to be easily tangled, damaged by pets and/or unsafe for young children. These days, shades are still offered with cords but are much more commonly found with continuous, cordless or motorized control options.

Continuous cord blinds forgo the easily tangled cord by using a continuous looped pull cord, which stays attached to the window frame. These pull cords are easier to operate, especially for heavier fabrics or larger windows, and won’t get tangled or endanger pets or children.

Cordless blinds make the work of raising or lowering your shades as easy as gently pushing up or pulling down on the bottom rail of the blinds. A tension rod or lifting mechanism is installed inside the top or bottom rail of the blinds, countering the weight of the blinds and making them easy to raise or lower.

Motorized blinds are a newer and more advanced choice, especially for those who might have shades in hard to reach places or who have mobility issues that make raising and lowering the blinds difficult. Motorized blinds can also usually be controlled by a remote, a smartphone app or even paired with smart home technology to allow control via Google Home, Amazon Alexa or Apple HomeKit.

To determine the best blackout blinds for windows ranking, the Forbes Home editorial team analyzed third-party data on 23 different products, with each company’s star rating determined by evaluating a variety of metrics, including:

• Price (25%)
• Customer rating (25%)
• Warranty (20%)
• Number of color/texture choices (10%)
• Custom sizes available (5%)
• Smart blind options (10%)
• Pro installation available (5%)