Blackout blinds

Self-Care and Sleep Hygiene: Get Ready for Sleep Awareness Week, 2021! Sunday, March 14 – Saturday, March 20, 2021

/ Larry Walker

by SelectBlinds

We’re about to time travel forward! Well, sort of. Just an hour ahead. In MOST of the country.

Daylight saving time (not “savings time”) 2021, begins at 2 a.m. (your local time) on Sunday morning, March 14, 2021. This is the annual time change when we “spring forward” an hour and you “lose” an hour of sleep. Be sure to retire an hour earlier on Saturday the 13th, unless you want to be dragging all the next day!

Speaking of losing sleep, this same Sunday also kicks off one of our favorite weeks of the year here at Select Blinds: National Sleep Awareness Week, “a weeklong celebration of sleep health,” March 14 through March 20th. You might also find it interesting to know that World Sleep Day (Regular Sleep, Healthy Future) is commemorated on Friday, March 19th this year.  

Getting a good night’s sleep consistently is considered healthy (there’s even a term for it: sleep hygiene), and is a key component of a solid self-care regimen.

Sleep Hygiene - Sleep Awareness Week 2021
Sleep Awareness Week, 2021 – Are you getting enough sleep?

Self-Care Ideas: Good Sleep for Good Self-Care

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF), the organization that brought us Sleep Awareness Week to coincide with daylight saving time, recommends somewhere between seven and nine hours of nightly sleep for most adults.

According to the NSF, as many as 40 million Americans have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or with waking up earlier than they would like. Common distractions from adequate sleep include disruptive noises and natural light coming in through the windows, especially early the morning.

How are you sleeping these days? Getting a good night’s sleep (maintaining solid sleep hygiene) contributes to boosting your brain’s activity, increasing your energy level throughout the day, bolstering your immune system, improving your overall mood, and increasing your productivity.

Tips for getting a good, solid, healthy night’s sleep include:

Seems like a lot to cover, but Select Blinds has plenty of solutions to help you out with minimizing your exposure to incoming light.

Sleep Hygiene - Celebrate Your Sleep Health
Sleep Hygiene – Celebrate Your Sleep Health

Do Blackout Shades Work?

Let’s talk blackout shades vs. room-darkening shades. Room-darkening shades reduce up to 95-99 percent of incoming light that enters a room through the window(s). Then there are blackout styles that can eliminate glare up to 100 percent. They may not necessarily make a space completely pitch black, but these shades can come pretty close to darkening your room any time of the day.

A good blackout shade can help ease your transition from night to daytime (or vice versa), thus helping improve your overall sleep quality. Blackout shades are also energy-efficient to help you cut the cost of energy spending in your home.

Blackout Shades to help you get a full night's sleep.
Select Blinds Blackout shades to help you get a solid night’s sleep.

What Are the Best Blackout Shades?

Customers love our products! Read up on our customer reviews. Speaking of improved sleep hygiene, consider the fact that from a 2020 review of the “best blackout shades,” The New York Times review considers Classic Cordless Blackout Shades its favorite out of its top three picks.

The review panel “unanimously agreed that the Select Blinds Classic Cordless [Blackout Shades are] the [ones] they’d most like in their homes,” citing the quality polyester custom shades’ look and feel as being “noticeably better in quality than other shades [they] considered.” In addition to top-notch look and feel, the NYT review also cited the shades’ wide color and customizable size selection, and the longest warranty of any other shades they reviewed. 

Select Blinds Classic Cordless Blackout Shades
Select Blinds Classic Cordless Blackout Shades were rated the best Blackout Shades by Wirecutter, and featured in the New York Times!
  • Maybe you’re interested in a recommendation that offers additional insulation and durability, you might consider getting the Select Blackout Cellulars.
  • If you’re looking for a shade that combines traditional and blackout shade functionality, consider the Top down, Bottom up style Modern Light Filtering / Blackout TriShades.
  • For our most complete blackout effect, try our Designer Sleep Shades, which features unique side tracks. They are very effective at blocking out 99 percent of incoming light.
  • If you need any more help in choosing a room darkening or blackout shade, check out our Select Blinds guides for properly equipping bedroom and nursery windows.

For more on getting good blackout shades to get better sleep, see NASCAR driver David Ragan discussing success and how to win that advantage over your day with a good night’s sleep. He does it with effective Select Blinds blackout shades for his RV:

NASCAR’s David Ragan discusses winning that advantage over your day with a solid night’s sleep, thanks to Select Blinds blackout shades.

Don’t forget to celebrate Sleep Awareness Week with us this year by getting into the habit of getting regular, great Zzzzz’s.

Nighty night.

#BlindsWeLove   #CelebrateSleep   #SleepAwarenessWeek #CelebrateYourSleepHealth

Media Room Ideas: The Best Window Coverings for Gaming Rooms and Movie Night

/ Larry Walker

by SelectBlinds

Gamers and home theater buffs: Does your gaming or media room have windows? When you’re online, on a roll playing your favorite RPG, or relaxing with your favorite film, you want nothing to do with the sun’s harsh glare. You might be considering window blinds or shades for your room’s windows to block out exterior light and glare, as well as to help insulate and soundproof your room. More fabric-style window treatments, like blackout cellular shades or Roman shades, also assist with dampening background noise and improving your gaming / media audio quality, too!

Gamer playing a video game in a darkened gaming room.
Gaming and media rooms with windows should have good lighting control for the best entertainment experiences.

Window treatments can also provide plenty of privacy, day or night. They can also help insulate against the heat or cold, to help save on your energy bills.

If your gaming/media room windows face the north, there’s a good chance you’ll rarely, if ever, have to worry about direct sunlight coming in. If your room’s windows face any other direction, you’ll likely get some direct sunlight coming in at some point during the day. Window treatments are specifically designed to control incoming light, but keep in mind there are different degrees of light blockage.

What Is the Difference Between Blackout and Room Darkening Shades?

Blackout shades, or room darkening blinds? Blackout shades are made with an opaque fabric intended to block out ALL incoming light. “Room darkening” window treatments typically block out between 95 to 99 percent of the outdoor light. Window coverings that block less than 95 percent of incoming light are commonly known as “light filtering” blinds or shades.

Maybe you prefer a total blackout effect. Maybe you like the incoming light most of the time, but just want to block out the setting sun’s glare for movie night. Knowing what you need and prefer can help you in your selection.

Window with blackout curtains to keep out sunlight glare.
Window coverings can protect your interior from harmful UV rays and annoying glare.

Consider some of these options for blackout or room darkening effects for your entertainment room:

What Are the Best Blackout Shades?

We take pride in all our products and customer service, and stand by them all. Consider the fact that from a 2020 review of the “best blackout shades,” The New York Times review considers Classic Cordless Blackout Shades among its top three picks.

The review panel “unanimously agreed that the Select Blinds Classic Cordless [Blackout Shades are] the [ones] they’d most like in their homes,” citing the quality polyester shades’ look and feel being “noticeably better in quality than other shades [they] considered.” In addition to top-notch look and feel, the NYT review also cited the shades’ wide color and customizable size selection, and the longest warranty of any other shades they reviewed. 

Regardless of what kind of window treatments you go with, keep in mind that your entertainment space is yours and should meet your needs, while reflecting your personal sense of style.

Looking for the Best Blackout Shades During Sleep Awareness Week? Wirecutter Found ‘Em for You!

/ Larry Walker

Select Blinds Signature Cordless Blackout Shade from SelectBlinds.com

For most of you, Daylight Saving Time started last Sunday. Which means most of us — except those of us here in Arizona — lost an hour of sleep Sunday night when time ‘sprang forward.’ If you haven’t caught up on those shortened zzz’s yet, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) and Select Blinds have some tips for you.

NSF 2020 Sleep In America Poll Infographic

Corresponding with the start of Daylight Saving Time each year, the NSF introduced Sleep Awareness Week to remind us how to make beneficial changes in our sleep routines to improve our sleep and overall health. Here are some things you can do:

That last point is where we can help. SelectBlinds.com offers a variety of blackout and room darkening blinds to keep sleeping areas quiet and practically light-free. In the dark about picking the best blackout shade? Wirecutter can shed some serious light on that question, too.

The curators and creators of “best of” lists for everyday items people shop for, Wirecutter journalists spent 25 hours on research, interviewed five industry experts and tested 12 models to find the best blackout blind for you. Their conclusion? (Drum roll, please.) Our very own Select Blinds Classic Cordless Blackout Shade!

Select Blinds Signature Cordless Blackout Shade from SelectBlinds.com

“We like cellular shades because they look good, effectively block light, and are easy to install. Our panel unanimously agreed that the Select Blinds Classic Cordless Blackout Shade is the one they’d most like in their homes,” writes Wirecutter’s Jack Smith. “The polyester shade looks and feels noticeably better in quality than other shades we considered. Among the shades we tested, it has one of the widest selections of sizes and colors, and it’s covered by a three-year warranty, the longest of any model we considered.

“If you’re interested in a version of our pick that offers additional insulation and durability, you might consider getting the Select Double Cell Blackout Shade. And if you’re looking for a shade that combines traditional and blackout shade functionality, consider the top-down bottom-up Premium Light Filtering/Blackout Cordless Shade.”

Read Wirecutter’s complete guide here. If you need any more help in choosing a room darkening or blackout shade, check out our own Buying Guides for bedroom, nursery and home theater window coverings.

“We like cellular shades because they look good, effectively block light, and are easy to install. Our panel unanimously agreed that the Select Blinds Classic Cordless Blackout Shade is the one they’d most like in their homes,” writes Wirecutter’s Jack Smith. “The polyester shade looks and feels noticeably better in quality than other shades we considered. Among the shades we tested, it has one of the widest selections of sizes and colors, and it’s covered by a three-year warranty, the longest of any model we considered.

“If you’re interested in a version of our pick that offers additional insulation and durability, you might consider getting the Select Double Cell Blackout Shade. And if you’re looking for a shade that combines traditional and blackout shade functionality, consider the top-down bottom-up Premium Light Filtering/Blackout Cordless Shade.”

Read Wirecutter’s complete guide here. If you need any more help in choosing a room darkening or blackout shade, check out our own Buying Guides for bedroom, nursery and home theater window coverings.

Designer Sleep Shades
For the most complete blackout effect, try our Designer Sleep Shades. Featuring unique side tracks, they block out 99% of incoming light. Perfect for baby’s room, bedrooms and the family media room.

Still having trouble falling asleep? Reading in bed always helps me. See if you can identify with any of the findings of this year’s Sleep in America poll, the NSF’s annual review of current sleep topics.

Have any other tips for a good night’s sleep? Leave them in the comments below.

Sweet dreams.

Baby Yoda sleep meme

Cindy H. Is a Happy SelectBlinds.com Customer!

/ Larry Walker
“We love our new Signature Cordless Blackout Shades [in Classic White]! My husband put them up right away. We have draw-string cellular blinds in the other windows and he has had to restring them many times, which is a pain. Our windows are very long, so we can’t just go and buy [window treatments] anywhere. This will really help our grandkids sleep better when they are here in February. Your prices were very good compared to others. Thank you so much for such great pricing and service!”

Hey, Cindy! I’m sure the grandkids will sleep well with these on those long windows. Wirecutter has rated them best blackout shade, so they should definitely do the trick!