Nursery Blinds: How to Black Out a Baby's Room (and Keep It Cord-Safe)

A nursery blind has two jobs. It has to make the room properly dark at 1 pm for a day sleep, and it has to be safe for a kid who will, at some point, climb everything. Most window coverings do one of those well. Here's how to get both, with what we actually make.

The kids' room at Harries and Emily's place in Bondi: a blockout roller down for a day sleep. The thin lines at the edges are what a recess fit leaves — read on for how to lose them.

Which blind actually blocks the light in a nursery?

A blockout roller blind, fitted so it overlaps the window. That's the honest answer for nine nurseries out of ten. The fabric itself is opaque — a coated blockout like our Focus range lets no light through the cloth at all — so the only light that gets in comes around the edges. Which means the fit matters more than the fabric. (Real blockout installs, including this room; the roller blinds buying guide covers fit and options.)

The other option that works is a double curtain: a sheer at the front for the day, a blockout curtain behind it for sleeps. Curtains hang past the window on every side, so they beat rollers on light gaps without any extra hardware. They cost more, take longer to make, and they're a fabric a toddler can pull on — so we usually suggest them for a room the child will grow into rather than a cot room.

What doesn't work on its own: sheers, light-filtering fabrics, venetians and vertical blinds. Lovely in the right room. Not dark enough for a 1 pm sleep, and venetians and verticals bring cords and slats into a room where you don't want either within reach. (Night privacy is a separate question — here's how each fabric behaves after dark.)

Stopping the light gaps

This is the part people skip, then they order a blockout blind and wonder why the room is still striped with light at 6 am. A roller blind fitted inside the window recess leaves a gap of roughly 10–15mm each side, because the fabric is narrower than the brackets. That's fine in a lounge. In a nursery it's a problem.

Three ways to fix it, from least effort to most complete:

A black blockout roller in a bedroom. Dark fabrics read darker at the edges than pale ones — same opacity, less glow.

The cord-safety rules, in plain English

Australia has a mandatory standard for corded internal window coverings, and it exists because looped cords have strangled children. It applies to blinds sold and installed in homes, and it's the bit of a nursery job you don't improvise. The parts that matter to you as the person doing the install:

The cleanest way through all of that is to take the cord out of the equation. Our motorised roller blinds run on a rechargeable battery motor (Somfy or Acmeda Automate) with a remote or an app — no chain at all, and you can lower the blind from the hallway without going in. It's more money than a chain-drive roller, and you'll recharge the battery every few months depending on how often it runs, but for a cot room it removes the hazard entirely rather than managing it. Our motorisation guide goes through the options.

A motorised roller on a Somfy remote. No chain in the room is the simplest way to pass the cord-safety test.

If you'd rather stay manual, a chain-drive blockout roller with the tensioner fitted properly is compliant, and it's what most people order for a nursery. Just fit the clip before you hang the blind, not "later".

Roller, curtain or both? A quick way to decide

Sheers on their own (this nursery in a HAAUS build) are for the daytime look. Behind them you still want a blockout layer for sleeps.

Ordering it so it arrives before the baby does

Our blinds are made to measure in Australia and are dispatched 8–15 business days after you order. If you're working to a due date, order the samples first, then the blind, and don't leave it for the last fortnight.

Nervous about measuring? Add the Perfect Fit Guarantee when you design your blind. It's an optional paid add-on: we video call you to check your numbers before we make it, and if it still doesn't fit, we remake it (up to five blinds per household; tell us within 14 days).

Common questions