Buying guide
Blockout, light filtering or sunscreen?
Three words used loosely by almost everyone. Knowing the difference is the difference between a dark bedroom and a disappointing one.
·5 min read
The three categories
Almost every blind fabric falls into one of three groups, and the names describe what the fabric does to light passing through it.
- Blockout: an opaque fabric, usually with a coated backing, that stops effectively all light through the fabric itself
- Light filtering: a translucent fabric that softens and diffuses light while providing privacy, without darkening the room
- Sunscreen: an open-weave mesh that cuts glare, heat and UV while keeping a view through it
The thing nobody tells you about blockout
A blockout fabric stops light through the fabric. It does not stop light around the fabric. On a roller blind there is always a small gap at each side where the blind clears the brackets, and light will come through it.
In a bedroom that gap is the difference between a dark room and a room with two bright vertical stripes on the wall at six in the morning. If genuine darkness is the goal, this needs designing for rather than hoping for.
- Fit the blind outside the reveal, on the wall, so it overlaps the window on both sides
- Use side channels, which enclose the edges of the blind
- Add a pelmet or headbox to stop light spilling over the top
- Layer with blockout curtains, which cover the whole opening including the edges
Sunscreen openness factor
Sunscreen fabrics carry an openness factor, expressed as a percentage. A lower number means a tighter weave: more heat and glare blocked, more privacy, less view. A higher number is more open: better view, less protection.
Around three to five per cent is a common middle ground for living areas. On a window with a view worth keeping you might go more open; on a hot western window, tighter.
Matching fabric to room
- Bedrooms: blockout, fitted to control the edge gaps
- Living areas: light filtering or sunscreen, often with blockout curtains layered over
- Home offices and media rooms: sunscreen for glare control, or blockout if screens are the priority
- Kitchens and bathrooms: light filtering in a wipeable fabric
- Rooms with a view: sunscreen, with the openness factor chosen to protect the view
Good to know
Common questions
Why does light still come in around my blockout blind?
Blockout describes the fabric, not the installation. Light passes through the gaps at the sides and top of a blind fitted inside the window reveal. Fitting outside the reveal, adding side channels, or layering with curtains solves it.
Can you get privacy and a view at the same time?
During the day, yes — that is exactly what sunscreen and light-filtering fabrics do. At night the relationship reverses and you will need a second layer for privacy once interior lights are on.
Free in-home consultation
Talk it through with someone who fits these every day
Reading only gets you so far. We bring samples to your home, measure up and quote — free, across the Gold Coast, Queensland.