I have installed a blackout curtain in my bedroom. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of light entering from above and below the curtain, as you can see in the picture below. Is there anything I can do to make my room darker (while still keeping the curtain operational — I need to be able to open and close it)?
Unfortunately "get a longer curtain" is not an option, because there is a radiator right below the window, and a longer curtain would block it out and reduce the effectiveness of heating. Ideally, I'd need to put some more cloth horizontally at the top and the bottom, somehow.
I still have some of the blackout cloth used for the curtain; I wonder if it is possible to make some sort of attachment with it (but I am also open to completely different ideas).
There are already shutters on the outside of the window, but they still let a lot of light through.
Best Answer
We have this issue in both kids bedrooms that face west.
What I did was, below the blackout curtains, fix a blackout roller-blind against the window, and add thin strips of wood down the sides which the roller-blinds fit underneath, this stops all light bleed at the edges, and because the blind comes right down to the bottom of the casement, it stops bleed from the bottom as well, which seems to be your main issue.
Or, you could also look at adding black blackout material to the back of your curtains, which will drastically reduce the reflected light bleed (but increase the amount of heat radiated into the room - having a secondary blind helps with this, as well)