We are going down the shore this summer to my in-law's condo and they have floor to ceiling, wall to wall sliding glass doors/windows. They do not want to go out and buy new curtains that have the blackout feature but the baby won't go to sleep at his normal time b/c it's so light in there. Any ideas on what to do? Is there any type of material we could buy to temporarily hang that would work and not be expensive? If so how would we assemble it? The space is so large, we don't have any ideas.
Jo-Ann Fabric sells "budget blackout" fabric for $5.99 a yard (it's 54 inches wide, which is wider than a door panel). You could hang it with thumbtacks, if necessary.
Maybe a stand up folding screen by the baby's bed? Just something to create some shade by the bed without having to deal with the windows.
When we were visiting family we brought some tape/thumbtacks and heavy duty construction trash bags in order to darken the room. we cut the sides so that they hung very wide, but you could also do it lengthwise so that they fit floor to ceiling. They are opaque because they are heavy duty so they do not allow any light in. You can buy the bags at any hardware store or home depot. they are not too expensive and fairly easy to put up.
Good luck and enjoy the shore!
Joy,
Are all the rooms this way? If not, could you have the baby sleep in another room? Maybe you could transfer the baby, if necessary, although he would wake up as soon as the sun comes up. Curtains with a blackout feature would be expensive for such a large space, but perhaps you could price them and offer to split them? My husband and I both need the black out feature, not just our kids, and my parents made sure that all the bedrooms at the shore had dark enough curtains. (The home is an older home, no window wall.) Even curtains that are not black out curtains woud offer more than if there were no curtains, but if you're going to the expense of getting something for the windows, you might want to see if it's that big a jump to getting black-out material. Good luck! My family could not sleep at your in-laws' condo!
Go to lowes or home depot and pick up temporary "redi-shades." They peel off and stick to the molding - without hariming the windows/paint. We just moved into a new house and I put these up as temp shades.
Good luck!
it's terrible to look at, but aluminum foil works. just tape it up.
seriously. cheap. easy. also keeps the heat out.
