Light Blocking Drapery Liners Which Actually Work

We've gotten heavily lined drapes and blinds which were labeled "light blocking", but they never truly blocked the light. I wanted heavy drapes like the kind you find in hotel rooms, super heavy duty light blocking drapes, the reason being that the children's bedrooms faces west, and it gets really hot in their rooms in the late afternoon and into the evening. The sun shoots right through two layers, the lined drapes and closed blinds, especially in my daughter's room. I planted a Japanese Cherry tree in front of their windows, but it is not quite tall enough yet.

So today while I was searching for a tension rod at Walmart, I found some Roc-lon drapery liners The package stated that they were made of the same fabric used in hotels worldwide, so I tried them, and they work really well! You can hang them behind your curtains or drapes on a pocket rod, or attach them with drapery pins to the back of your existing drapes. I spent about $24.00 for a two panel package which included the drapery pins.

These liners will definitely save us on air conditioning costs. They advertise that they cut down on noise as well. We've got traverse rods in both the children's bedrooms, so these were very easy to loop onto the existing pins behind the drapes.

Read Walmart reviews here.

One small issue is that each package fits a window width of up to only 50 inches. The larger size would need a patio panel(drapes that open only on one side). Our window width was a bit wider, but the liner still blocked out enough light to make the room almost pitch black. For complete coverage I'd have to double up the liners - one pack for each drapery panel, but that's for an absolute black out which is a little creepy for the kids. Another way to make it darker would be to hang the liners on a tension rod in the window where you'd normally hang your blinds, or if you have room, in front of your blinds. This blocks out the light/heat from above the drapes and from the sides. The only downside is that you can't move them on the rod during the day; the fabric is very thick.