Filter Light Fantastically With This Blackout and Sheer Curtain Trick

For many homeowners, finding the perfect window treatments can be a delicate balancing act. On one hand, elements like sunlight and visibility are desired for their warmth and openness. But privacy, insulation, and darkness also have their benefits for bedrooms, home offices, and entertainment spaces.

This leads many people to layer their windows with both opaque and translucent curtains to get the best of both worlds. But what curtain goes in front? How do you coordinate opaque and sheer drapes for functionality and aesthetics? We'll explore those questions and more in this complete guide to the blackout-with-sheers window treatment trick.

What Are Blackout Curtains?

As their name implies, blackout curtains are designed to block external light from windows. Typically made of tightly-woven, light-blocking fabrics, blackout curtains prevent illumination from entering a room, whether it's daylight or artificial light at night.

There are a few key benefits that make blackout curtains a popular choice:

• Improved sleep: By completely blocking light, blackout curtains can help regulate melatonin production for better sleep quality.
• Increased privacy: Opaque blackout fabrics prevent people from seeing into a room from outside.
• Energy savings: Blackouts provide insulation that keeps heat or cold from entering through windows.
• Noise reduction: Dense blackout materials also help absorb sound from outside the room.

With those advantages in mind, it's easy to see why bedrooms are a very common placement for blackout curtains. But they can also be quite useful in home offices, media rooms, nurseries, and more.

Understanding Sheer Curtains

Sheer curtains occupy the opposite side of the opacity spectrum from blackouts. Made from lightweight, translucent fabrics like silk, linen, polyester voile, or lace sheers allow external light to gently filter into a room.

There are a few advantages to using sheer curtains:

• Soft, diffused daylight: Sheers scatter incoming light for a soft, ambient glow.
• Outward visibility: Unlike blackouts, sheers allow people in the room to still see outside.
• Increased privacy: While not completely opaque, sheers obscure clear views into a room.
• Layering and texture: Sheers nicely complement other window treatments.

Common rooms for sheer placements include living spaces, kitchens, and offices. But as we'll discuss next, sheers take on a whole new role when paired with blackout curtains.

Understanding Blackout-Sheer Layering

Blackout curtains with a sheer underlay refer to installing sheer curtains behind existing blackout curtains. Typically this involves a separate rod or tabs for each curtain layer. The goal is to enjoy the perks of both opaque and translucent drapes in one dual-purpose window treatment.

With the blackout layer in front, the opaque curtains can provide 100% light blockage, insulation, sound absorption, and privacy whenever desired, similar to using them alone. But opening the blackout layer gives a glimpse of the sheer underlay behind, allowing some natural light to filter into the room. Sheers can also be independently closed or opened without moving the blackouts.

This layered combination brings several advantages:

Unparalleled Control Over Light

The user has complete mastery over incoming sunlight with blackout and sheer curtains in tandem. Close both for pitch blackness or open just the sheers for a perfect level of light filtration. This light control is ideal for both bedrooms wanting darkness for quality sleep and living rooms desiring some ambient daylight.

Energy Savings and Insulation

While opened sheers allow visible light to enter, closed blackout curtains still provide insulation and energy savings by preventing heat gain or loss through windows. This helps cut down on HVAC costs.

Visual Interest and Dimensionality

Layering two separate curtain treatments adds depth, texture, and architectural dimension to windows for increased visual appeal, especially when both layers use attractive colors, patterns and fabric types.

Installation Guide: Blackout and Sheer Layer Positioning

A key decision when implementing the blackout with sheer trick is choosing which layer do you want closest to the window. There are excellent arguments on both sides, with advantages and disadvantages either way. Let's compare the two setups:

Putting Sheers in Front of Blackouts

Installing sheer curtains as the interior layer nearer to the window glass allows them to filter incoming daylight when blackouts are open without impediment. This provides sun-lit ambiance while retaining the option for total darkness whenever needed. It also minimizes the need for artificial lighting during daylight hours.

The downside to placing sheers in front is that the filtered light effect is lost when blackouts are closed. And some may prefer the layered aesthetic of seeing sheers behind blackouts rather than having them hidden.

Putting Blackouts in Front of Sheers

The alternative approach is putting opaque blackout curtains as the frontal layer, closer to the glass. This allows the elegance of the sheers to be visible behind the blackouts whenever the opaque curtains are open. The daylight filtration and see-through visibility effects still occur when traversing the blackout barrier.

The cons of this setup are losing some potential energy savings from daylight entering sheers, and not seeing the sheers themselves except when blackouts are drawn open.

So in summary, it comes down to a personal decision between always filtering daylight through sheers, or always seeing the allure of sheers behind blackouts. Either can work beautifully.

Tips for Styling Blackout and Sheer Layers

Once you've settled placement logistics, the fun begins in selecting complementary fabrics, textures, colors, and patterns for your tandem curtains. Here are useful style considerations:

Desired Light Blockage

Important factors for choosing your blackout layer are the level of light blockage needed and the opacity of the fabric itself. Bedrooms often require thicker, completely opaque fabrics that show zero light. Living rooms may get by with lighter blackout fabrics still providing ample darkness and insulation when closed.

Sheerness and Translucence

The qualities of your sheer layer also matter for lighting needs. More translucent, thinner sheers allow maximum light through when open. Less sheer fabrics obstruct more light but still show shapes and movement on the other side of the window. Keep desired luminosity in mind.

Color Considerations

Whether matching, contrasting, or complementary, properly coordinating blackout and sheer curtain colors creates next-level window decor. You can't go wrong pairing colors within the same hue family. But for extra pop, consider a neutral blackout layer combined with brightly colored sheers.

Patterns and Textures

Similarly, pairing solids with bold prints or alternating fabric textures can make your tandem curtains shine. Try solid blackouts with patterned sheers or combine sleek satin sheers with textured linen blackouts. The combinations are unlimited for custom style.

Ideal Room Placements

While blackout-with-sheer curtains work wonderfully overall, they excel in certain space types where light control and layered elegance really shine.

Bedrooms

Ensuring sufficient darkness for quality sleep yet welcoming daylight when awake makes bedrooms perfectly suited for blackout and sheer combos. Neutral and darker color schemes nicely fit bedrooms' tranquility.

Home Offices

Like bedrooms, home offices enjoy enveloping darkness blocking distractions during work hours coupled with gently illuminated ambiance during online meetings or reading documents with sheers letting daylight filter in.

Living Rooms

For communal rooms seeing heavy use at both day and night, the custom light manipulation and elegance afforded by back-to-back blackout and sheer curtains make living rooms an ideal match as well.

Media Rooms

Spaces like home theaters used predominantly at night benefit from blackouts' complete light obstruction, while sheers subtly dim incoming daylight avoiding complete darkness when enjoying TV or games during daylight hours.

The best of both worlds for interior window treatments are the curtains with a sheer underlay. Following the advice above will have you filtering light fantastically in no time!