I am renting a house that has beautiful wooden venetian blinds – that I can not remove or replace – but they are not very effective at blocking the ambient night light that is abundant on my street. This affects my sleep hygiene – it is strongly recommended to sleep in as dark environment as possible.
Now the challenge is:
- I can not remove the existing blinds
- I want to keep the room light during day so no sticker or dark foil
- my budget is limited and I would like to avoid buying and installing heavy curtains
How do I darken the room on a budget? Any DIY tips are welcome.
Best Answer
Buy paper window shades. Specifically the ones that are folded like an accordion and have an adhesive edge at the top. Trim them to the width of your windows. Lay them out flat and paint one or both sides black with spray paint. Stick them up behind the Venetian blinds. If you only painted one side then you can face the white side out if you are concerned about the external appearance.
During the day you can lift them up and clip them in place with those plastic clips that are used to keep chip bags closed. Or if the windows are double-hung you can accordion them up and sit them on the top of the bottom sash.