Are the brighter mornings and summer evenings interfering with your sleep? Light control is a major factor in creating a comfortable, restful and functional home environment. This is where blackout and dim-out fabrics come in!
Understanding the Difference
Blackout and dim-out fabrics may sound similar, but they offer distinctively different levels of light control. Designed for complete darkness, blackout fabrics block almost all light transmission. This is achieved through a tight weave, a special inner layer, or a light-blocking coating on the backside. They’re perfect for bedrooms, nurseries, or media rooms where complete light control is essential.
Alternatively, as the name suggests, dim-out fabrics significantly reduce incoming light, but not entirely. They offer a softer, more relaxed light filtering effect, ideal for living rooms, offices, or areas where some natural light is still desired.
When choosing the right fabric for your requirements, it’s important to consider your light-control needs and room functionality. Are you seeking complete darkness, or is a softened light effect sufficient? Style and aesthetics are also a significant consideration. Both fabric types come in a wide range of colours / textures and have a lovely soft handle and drape that can look fabulous in residential settings.
Benefits of Blackout / Dim-out Fabrics
The benefits of blackout and dim-out fabrics extend far beyond creating a darkened room. Here’s a breakdown of the advantages they offer:
- Improved Sleep: By creating a dark environment, blackout fabrics promote better sleep quality, particularly in the lightest months. This could be beneficial to light sleepers or those who work night shifts (please note there may be some light ingress around the edges of your curtains or blinds).
- Energy Efficiency: Both fabrics act as thermal insulators. In summer, they block heat from entering, keeping your space cooler and in winter, they trap heat inside, reducing reliance on heating systems. This can potentially translate to lower energy bills.
- Privacy: They provide an extra layer of privacy, especially for rooms on lower floors. The denser weave and light-blocking properties make it difficult for outsiders to see into your space.
- Reduced Fading: Sunlight can shorten the life of furniture and artwork. Both fabrics can help shield your interiors from UV rays, helping to reduce fading and extend the life of your possessions.
- Acoustic Properties: Blackout fabrics often come with the additional benefit of sound dampening. This can be helpful in bedrooms located near noisy streets or for creating a quieter environment for movie nights.
Fabric Collections
We are delighted to offer a superb range of high performance blackout and dim-out fabrics across an extensive colour palette to suit an array of interior design styles and colour schemes. Available by the metre, these fabrics can also be made up into bespoke, made to measure curtains and roman blinds, catering to your exact specifications. Discover versatile designs from Silent Gliss, Weymss, Prestigious Textiles and Kobe. Shop our range of blackout and dim-out fabrics here.
Blackout Ranges
Blackout fabrics are a versatile choice for any light-sensitive space. Weymss offers a great selection of blackout fabrics, where style meets practicality. Rochelle is a stunning, semi-plain, blackout drapery fabric with an alluring texture and muted palette that exudes restful charm and tranquility. Alternatively, for accent window dressings, you may wish to consider the beautiful Weymss Mistral blackout fabric. This design features a soft and small herringbone with a stripe effect. Choose from earthy neutrals, through to bolder accents for a pop of colour. Please get in touch if you would like any fabric swatches sent out.
Alternatively, the Chiltern fabric by Prestigious Textiles is a fabulous choice for domestic and contract settings (shown opposite). With a textured, hopsack look, this plain, rustic fabric comes in an array of country style colour ways and is also available in wide width. We also love the Silent Gliss Somnia fabric, a wide width, blackout design with a subtle structured appearance that lends itself beautifully to the popular wave and Swiss pleat curtain headings.
Dim-out Ranges
Create a cosy, diffused ambience with our excellent range of dim-out fabrics. Offering a stylish and functional solution for spaces that crave a balance between light and shadow, these fabrics are perfect for a more relaxed, light-controlled environment.
For luxurious and performance driven options, consider the popular Silent Gliss Leviso and Leviso Light fabrics. Both wide width, these dim-out designs are the perfect combination of form and function with versatile colour ways and impressive FR, light control and acoustic properties. Oscurante by Silent Gliss is also a fantastic choice with a smooth, soft drape, as is Colorama Dimout, adapted from the original, best-selling Silent Gliss Colorama fabrics.
Other exiting dim-out fabrics include Glisten (shown opposite), Sparkle and Stardust by Kobe, perfect for those seeking designs with a subtle pattern for a touch of understated elegance. The satin-effect Prestigious Textiles Islington Fabric and the multi-purpose Melody fabric by Weymss also work well in any setting due to their extensive colour palettes.
Blackout Linings
Whilst blackout and dim-out fabrics are designed for effective room darkening, it’s important to note that when made up into curtains, light can penetrate through the pinholes where the fabric is sewn at the bottom hem, particularly if positioned in front of glazing. A blackout lining can help to overcome this issue, ensuring there is no light ingress through the fabric.
At The Home Of Interiors, we specify premium blackout linings as part of our make-up service. With a luxurious handle and drape, our blackout linings are 3 pass, 100% polyester and made with a high density weave to offer greater opacity and protection, along with great energy efficiency. For roman blinds, we recommend specifying our bonded blackout lining that delivers a neat, crisp finish to your blinds. Please see our linings blog post here for more information.
Please note that there will be some level of light ingress around the edges of the curtains or blinds. A blind or curtain pelmet can help to further reduce light ingress. Please get in touch for additional solutions available to help overcome this.
Ready Made Curtains
If you’re looking for a quick, simple and cost-effective solution for your living space, we are pleased to offer a curated selection of blackout lined ready made curtains.
Whether you’d prefer something plain and elegant or beautifully patterned, our range includes timeless designs from Laura Ashley and Studio G, perfect for a stylish transformation. Available with an eyelet or pencil pleat heading to suit your interior style and decor. The Laura Ashley Stephanie pencil pleat or eyelet curtains are a beautiful choice with their subtle woven texture and on-trend colour ways. Shop the full range here.
Roller Blinds
We are also delighted to provide a comprehensive range of blackout fabrics as part of our bespoke, made to measure roller blind portfolio. Marrying beautiful, aesthetic appeal with exceptional functionality, these blinds create the perfect environment for sleep or cinema rooms. Choose from a superb selection of blackout fabrics with a colour matched reverse, along with blackout fabrics with a white backing.
We also offer design-led blackout, made to measure roller blind solutions from Prestigious Textiles and Clarke & Clarke. We particularly love the recent Prestigious Textiles Serenity blind collection, offering indulgent window coverings that promise to elevate your space. Learn more here.
Overview
Whether you crave complete darkness for a good night’s sleep or prefer a softer light filtering effect, blackout and dim-out fabrics offer a solution that goes beyond blocking light by enhancing comfort, privacy, energy efficiency, and even the aesthetics of your space. With a variety of options available, you’re sure to find the perfect blackout or dim-out fabric to suit your needs.
If you would like any help, advice or fabric samples sending out, please do get in touch. We also stock a range of fabric books in our showroom in Brockenhurst, should you wish to browse our collection. If you would like any help pulling a full room solution together, we do offer a bespoke design service and can provide fabric, design and paint colour advice to help you create a home you love. We can also make up your perfect window dressings with our bespoke, made to measure curtain and roman blind making service.
Email sales@thehomeofinteriors.co.uk or call us on 01590 615775.
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