Choosing window treatments for the bedroom can be a difficult balancing act. Privacy is important, of course, and so is insulation from light and noise. But a healthy sleep cycle, for some, means waking up with natural light. So what are some practical ways to dress your bedroom windows that encourage both comfy sleep and a pleasant morning routine?
Hotels frequently dress the windows of their rooms with a layer of heavy drapes over another layer of gauzy sheers. This seems like a practical solution for the home bedroom as well. It allows you to block most of your nighttime light and noise while leaving a portion of your window susceptible to morning light, and still achieving the privacy that a sheer curtain affords.
Curtains layered over fabric shades or blinds are another good option; lined fabric shades block out most light, but if you choose an unlined shade in a relatively lightweight linen, you'll get a good amount of light shining through in the morning. Slatted bamboo shades are a nice alternative, providing complete insulation at night but allowing a nice dappled light to shine through when the sun comes up.
Of course, so much depends on your own particular sleep and waking preferences. What's most important is to take stock of these before you choose your bedroom window treatments. Experiment, if necessary, by hanging sheets or blankets as temporary curtains to get a feel for how you sleep and wake up most comfortably. Give yourself several days of this trial period before you decide.
Feel free to weigh in below: How do you like your bedroom windows dressed?
(Images: Livingetc; Canadian House and Home)
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Marisa and Peter's Playfully Eclectic Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
Eileen's Beachside Oasis Kitchen
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
I have shutters in my bedroom and love them! I usually close top and bottom, but I can also close the bottom for privacy and leave the top open for light. In the summer I can close the top to block the light and leave the bottom open for a breeze.
There are recent medical studies that say women in particular, need total darkness when they sleep for their hormone levels to regulate and it reduces their risk of breast cancer. So i say blackout curtains for women and set an alarm.
I used to hang only blackout shades/curtains in my bedroom. I also overslept many days. For a change, I hung a curtain in a fabric I liked, which lets some light in. With the natural light, I find that I don't oversleep very often.
I'm lucky enough to have a bedroom window that faces the woods surrounding my apt building. So since there are no annoying outside lights to bother me, I leave my blinds open at bedtime so I can get a huge dose of the morning sun to help get my night-owl-self out of bed at a reasonable hour.
In my dream home I would have an automated blind system that opened 30 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. But for now, I just turn off the lights, fling open the blinds and hope no peeping toms are around...
agree sheers under heavier, light blocking drapes are the best.
I grew up in Alaska, where the sun comes up around 11 am in the winter, and it never really gets dark in summer, so I've always used blackout blinds. Even now I usually get up before the sun, so it's useless to have blinds that let the sun in. I use a dawn light - it simulates the dawn by slowly getting brighter the closer to my alarm going off.
I need morning light to wake up......but live in a city and have nosy neighbors. Currently have bamboo blinds, but it turns out they're not enough to keep the noses out!
We cover the windows that face the street to block the light from streetlamps, and we leave the window facing the unlit backyard uncovered so we'll have light in the morning.
We have our own heavy cotton curtains over vertical blinds provided by our landlord. My husband and I need a dark-as-humanly-possible room to sleep as we both grew up in non-urban areas. I will leave the blinds open a bit to let in a little light but will open everything in the morning to wake up more. I do say I get very disoriented if it is completely dark in the morning. I aim to one day live in a non-urban area where I do not need such heavy curtain amo to have a dark room at night.
Lizsh -- I did too, but after six years of living in normal lighting conditions, I've totally readjusted. I visited just recently, and I found I was absolutely unable to wake up at my usual time because it was still completely dark, and pretty soon I was staying up and sleeping two to three hours later than normal. Awful!
A light like that is a brilliant idea. Where do you find one? My major dilemma is that while I use sheers to let the light in, it would be nice to be able to put up heavy drapes in the winter to keep it a little warmer. That may be the solution.
When I worked nights, I needed total darkness in the bedroom during the day. I hung a miniblind, then taped a layer of aluminum foil around the window frame, then hung a curtain over that. From the street, you see the blind, and from inside the room, you see the curtain. The foil doesn't show at all and it's a cheap and effective light blocker.
Emilyb - I got one in high school. I don't remember where I got it, it was actually prescribed by a doctor for SAD (Seasonal despression). But I'm sure you could find it online too.
I live in a rural area, but there's a safety light right outside my bedroom window, so I have heavy faux wood blinds (couldn't afford the real thing) along with linen curtains. I also have a door leading outside; it's covered with two layers of curtains for both light and weather insulation. For natural light waking up, I leave the bedroom door cracked and get dazzling sun from the bare kitchen window.
@emilyb:
there is one by Philips, though I think I've seen pictures of wake up lights by other companies, too.
Have a look here:
http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/product-review/realview-philips-wakeup-light-077346
By the way, I have vertical blinds on my two side-by-side windows and leave one shut so the moonlight and the little bit of street light doesn't fall on my face, and the other half open so that I have a chance of getting up with some light (not at this time of the year, though).
Something I have recently turned to, because I didn't want to buy a wake up light (neither fond of the looks nor of the price) is simply putting a timer on a lamp I have on my chest of drawers, set about 30 minutes before the alarm goes off. It does help.
@prue:
Ouch. Way out of my price range, though thanks for the link. I stumbled upon some of those gradual-light lamp timers online just now, and I think that'll be the ticket. Great idea!