Blackout Blinds
If you wake at 5am in summer because light is coming round the edge of your curtain, this page is for you.
"Blackout" gets used loosely in the blinds industry, so let's be precise about what it means, what it doesn't, and how to get the darkest room you actually can.
What blockout fabric does and doesn't do
A blockout fabric is woven densely enough that light does not pass through the material itself. Hold it up and you see no glow.
What no roller-type blind can do is eliminate light around the edges. Any blind hangs on brackets, which means small gaps at the sides and top. If someone promises you a pitch-black room from a blind alone, they're overselling.
Here's the honest version: blockout fabric plus the right mount gets you a genuinely dark room. Enough to sleep in, enough for a night shift worker, enough for a nursery. Not enough for a photographic darkroom.
How to get the darkest result
- Choose an outside mount, not an inside mount. This is the single biggest factor and most people get it backwards. An inside mount looks tidier but leaves a gap down each side inside the reveal, and that gap is where your 5am light comes from. An outside mount extends past the frame and covers it.
- Be generous with overlap. 50mm each side is our baseline. For a bedroom, go wider. There's no rule stopping you.
- Mind the bottom. Run the blind past the sill rather than stopping level with it.
- Consider layering. A blockout blind with curtains drawn over the top is the darkest setup there is, and it's warmer too.
Blockout or semi-blockout?
These are different fabric weights, not just different light levels, and the difference surprises people.
Blockout is the heavier, denser weave. Choose it for bedrooms, nurseries, media rooms, and anywhere someone sleeps during daylight.
Semi-blockout is a lighter weave that filters light rather than stopping it. Good for living rooms and offices, wrong for a bedroom if darkness is the point. One customer told us her semi-blockout felt thinner than she expected — she was right, and it's why we'd rather explain this before you order than after.
You still get the day-night function
This is the part people miss. A blockout zebra blind isn't a dark panel you either have up or down.
The striped layers still slide against each other, so during the day you can align the stripes and get filtered light and a view. At night you align them solid and the room goes dark. One blind, both jobs.
"Perfect for daytime privacy without blocking the view, then provide blackout at nighttime."
— Lady Judi G.
"I bought one of these for my caravan — blockout blinds are essential for me as I have sensitive eyes. Works perfectly and looks awesome, and it's very well made to boot."
— Jason D., verified buyer
"We replaced multiple awful cheap plastic hanging blinds in our new place with these fabulous blockout zebra blinds. Our home gets east and west sun, so blockout was essential."
— Zoe G.
Where blockout blinds work best
- Bedrooms — especially east or west facing, where you get direct sun at waking hours
- Nurseries — daytime naps
- Shift workers — sleeping through daylight
- Media rooms — screen glare
- Caravans and cabins — no fitted curtains, and weight matters
Practical details
- Maximum width for a single blind is 2400mm. Wider windows split into two or more, priced on total square metres, so splitting costs nothing extra.
- Manual chain or battery motor. No wiring needed for motorised.
- 24 month warranty on parts and fabric.
- Water-resistant polyester blend, so blockout works in a damp bedroom too.
Before you order
Two things save more trouble than anything else.
Get the fabric catalogue. Screens misrepresent colour badly, and a dark fabric in your bedroom light is not the dark fabric on your phone. Most people change their choice once the samples arrive. Order the catalogue.
Read the measuring guide. Blockout blinds are unforgiving about measurement, because every millimetre out is a millimetre of light. How to measure your windows.
Not sure whether blockout or semi-blockout suits your room? Email shop@zebrablinds.co.nz and describe the window — which way it faces, and what you're using the room for. We'll tell you straight.