Anthropologie’s Luxe Linen Blend Blackout Curtains would look at home by the beach, with their thick, textured linen-blend weave and frayed edges. But, unfortunately, they’re very pricey and not all that great at blocking light—you would do nearly just as well buying a standard curtain.
Best Home Fashion’s Thermal Insulated Curtains blocked all light in our testing, but these almost iridescent panels looked like they belonged in a lab or home theater, not a bedroom. They reminded us of a superhero cape.
The Deconovo Room Darkening Thermal Curtains are under $15 per panel. They do a decent job of room darkening for its very low price, but we don’t recommend them because the material felt very cheap. If you’re looking for darkening curtains on a tight budget, these wouldn’t be a terrible choice.
Eclipse is a big manufacturer of room-darkening and blackout curtains, and we tested three different models—the Canova, the Samara, and the Fresno. The Canova and Samara curtains had linings that felt flimsy and thin, like a disposable plastic tablecloth. The Eclipse Fresno curtains were much better quality, but all three were terrible at blocking light.
We thought the IKEA Sanela Room Darkening Curtains were a decent velvet option, though we wish they did a better job at keeping out light—they function about the same as just a standard curtain, but it was a stretch to categorize them as darkening. They’re available in seven colors, and the velvet finish looks surprisingly soft and luxurious given its low price (about $70 for a pair); they make a decent dupe for the West Elm Worn Velvet Blackout Curtains we recommend above, but without the dimming ability.
The IKEA Vilborg Room Darkening Curtains managed to dim outdoor light but couldn’t block it well enough for us to recommend them—they’re slightly better than a standard curtain but far less effective than our other picks. They do come in a few color options, and though I thought their stiff, striated weave and subtle sheen was ugly, many buyer reviews laud these very details.
We tested Pottery Barn’s Emery Linen Curtain in 2017, and it had beautiful fabric, but the linen-cotton curtains didn’t compare to the others we tested for blocking out light. It was also the most expensive curtain we tested that year.
Sun Zero is another big blackout curtain manufacturer. In 2019, we tested the Evan (sold at primarily JCPenney) and the Easton (sold primarily on Amazon), and they were absolutely identical, down to the model number on the tags. Neither was very good at blocking light, and the Evan model is usually double the price of the Easton curtain, despite being identical products, which makes us skeptical.
Target’s Threshold Aruba Blackout Curtain Panels aren’t all that cute, don’t block out light very well, and aren’t particularly cheap. We think you can skip them.
This article was edited by Daniela Gorny and Joanne Chen.
link