Shift workers and light sleepers
Louvers closed for the evening, shade down for the night, both open by lunchtime. The window looks like every other shutter in the house.
Blackout Shutters
Blackout shutters that keep a bedroom dark at 5 a.m. in June.
Closed louvers dim a room. They do not black it out. DayNite™ adds a room-darkening shade behind the shutter, so the same window does both. Installed by PAPABLINDS in Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond.
Why closed shutters are not blackout.
Every shutter lets a little light through: at the louver overlaps, around the frame, and where two panels meet. In a Seattle bedroom that is fine from October to March. From May to August the sun is up before five and sets after nine, and those thin lines are enough to wake a light sleeper or a toddler.
DayNite™ solves it inside the shutter. A room-darkening shade sits behind the louvers in the same frame. Louvers open for daylight and the view; shade down for sleep. Nothing is stacked on the wall, and the shutter still looks like a shutter from the street.
- Built into Woodlore® Plus and Normandy® shutters.
- One frame. No separate shade hardware on the wall.
- Louvers tilt normally whenever the shade is up.
- Combines with split tilt and with PerfectTilt™ motorized tilt.
© 2021 Norman®. All Rights Reserved.Rooms that need real dark.
Naps at noon, bedtime at seven
Summer bedtimes in Seattle happen in daylight. A shade the child cannot pull down on themselves, inside a frame with no dangling cord.
Screens without glare
Louvers cut the glare for a video call; the shade takes the room to movie-dark on a Saturday afternoon.
How dark is dark?
What each option actually does, without the marketing words.
| Option | Daytime | Night and streetlights | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shutters, louvers closed | Dim | Thin lines at the louvers and frame | Fine for most living rooms and offices |
| Shutters with DayNite™ | Dark | Dark | Built into the panel; Woodlore Plus and Normandy |
| Shutters plus a separate blackout shade | Dark | Dark | Two products and two sets of hardware; used where DayNite is not offered |
| Blackout shade alone | Dark | Dark | No louvers, no daytime privacy control. See shades |
Blackout honeycomb and roller shades are on the shades page.
Blackout shutter questions.
Is DayNite available on every shutter?
On Woodlore Plus and Normandy. Standard Woodlore does not offer it, so blackout on a composite budget means Woodlore Plus.
Can I have blackout and motorized tilt on the same window?
Yes. Both are options on Woodlore Plus and Normandy and are often ordered together for bedrooms.
Does the shade block noise too?
It softens some, but blackout shutters are a light product, not an acoustic one. For street noise the glass matters far more than the covering.
What about arched or specialty windows?
Arches take shutters. Blackout inside an arch is handled case by case, so raise it at the visit.
Blackout shutters for bedrooms and nurseries in the Seattle area
From mid-May to mid-July the sun is up in Seattle before 5:30 a.m., and around the solstice the sky stays light past 9 p.m. Closed louvers dim a bedroom but do not black it out; light comes through at the louver overlaps and around the frame. DayNite™ adds a room-darkening shade behind the louvers, inside the same frame, so one window does both jobs. PAPABLINDS installs DayNite™ on Woodlore® Plus and Normandy® shutters in Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond.
Nurseries and children’s rooms
A shade built into the shutter frame has no dangling cord and nothing on the wall to pull down, and the louvers give daytime privacy on a ground-floor room. Summer bedtimes here happen in daylight; a shade that darkens the room at 7 p.m. is the difference between a routine and a negotiation.
Blackout shutters or blackout shades?
If you want shutters anyway, for the look and for daytime light control, DayNite™ is the answer: one product, one frame. If the room only needs darkness at night and you do not need louvers, a blackout honeycomb or roller shade costs less; those are on our shades page. We tell you which at the visit.
Shift workers and home offices
For daytime sleep the shade goes down fully; for a video call the louvers alone cut screen glare. DayNite™ combines with PerfectTilt™ motorized tilt, so a bedroom window can run on a schedule.
See the difference between closed louvers and DayNite™ in your own bedroom at a free in-home visit.