You made popcorn, started the movie and got comfortable only to realize there's a terrible glare on your television - sound familiar? Whether you have the TV in the living room or in a dedicated home theater, reducing or preventing glare with the right window treatment can make all the difference. Here are some home theater window covering ideas to avoid glare and have the best home theater experience.
You'll first need to decide if you just want to cut the glare or if you want to go for the fully darkened theater experience. That will determine the opacity of the window shade you'll need. Solar screen shades and semi-opaque cellular shades will uniformly soften the light coming into the room and minimize the glare. To completely darken a room, consider a blackout shade. Either way, a solid shade is more effective at reducing glare than a horizontal blind with slats and holes that light can easily pass through.
things to consider:
When ordering a blackout shade, keep in mind that the blackout quality of the shade applies only to light trying to pass through the fabric - you will also need to consider light going around the shade. For tips on how to minimize any light seepage and make the most of your home theater window coverings, read our Blackout and Room Darkening window treatments page. By the same token, you'll want to order the flat panel style instead of the hobbled or "looped" style if you are choosing a roman shade.
To give yourself more flexibility, consider layering your window treatments. A light-filtering shade combined with a room-darkening drapery, for example, lets you control how much light you have in the room. Enjoy your home theater window treatments and enjoy the movie!
Note: 'Home theater blinds' is normally considered a misnomer, and practically speaking, nearly all home theater window treatments are shades. However, there are blackout blinds, called panel tracks that could be used in a media room for special applications. Much like panels of woven wood blinds with an opaque liner sewn on and riding on siding rails attached to the ceiling.
If you have a media room with an opening to another room that is allowing light in, then the home theater window coverings you need will indeed be blinds. These will provide a near-blackout effect that can be used to keep light from inside your house out of your media room!
