Blockout curtains in Pakenham.

Blockout is a description of the cloth, not of the finished result. A blockout fabric stops light passing through it, either because a dedicated blockout lining has been sewn behind your face fabric, or because the fabric is a triple-weave with a dense dark yarn locked in the middle of a three-layer construction. Both will stop light dead in the middle of the panel. Neither, on its own, will make a room dark.

What makes a room dark is the perimeter. Light finds the gap over the top of the track, the gap at each end where the track stops short of the wall, and the gap under a curtain that finishes at the sill. We have walked into plenty of Pakenham bedrooms with expensive blockout curtains where the owner still wakes at first light, and in almost every case the fabric was fine and the edges were open. That is why every blockout job we do is quoted with a return, and why we will push for a pelmet or a hard ceiling fix at the top.

Separately lined, or triple-weave

• Separately lined pinch pleat. Your face fabric with a blockout lining behind it. Best drape, best light seal, widest fabric choice, and the two layers trap more still air so it performs better in winter. $350 to $900 per window.
• Triple-weave blockout. One cloth, blockout woven in. Lighter, launders more easily, stacks smaller so it clears the glass better on a narrow reveal, and cheaper. Fabric range is narrower and the fall is less heavy. $300 to $750 per window.
• Interlined blockout. Face fabric, soft bump interlining, then lining. The warmest and heaviest option, worth it on a big living room window in Emerald or Pakenham Upper. $600 to $1,400 per window.

Where it suits

Bedrooms first, always. In the Officer and Cardinia Lakes estates the two recurring problems are east-facing bedrooms in December, where the sun is over the horizon before 6am, and shift workers trying to sleep through the middle of the day. Both need a true blockout with sealed edges rather than a heavy lined curtain. Nurseries are the same problem with higher stakes, because a baby that wakes with the light wakes the household.

After bedrooms, media rooms and any west-facing living space. West and north windows across Pakenham cop a hard afternoon in summer, with stretches above 35 degrees and low sun straight into the glass. A blockout closed on those afternoons keeps the radiant heat off the furniture and takes real load off the air conditioner. If you want that control without shutting the room down, look at curtains and blinds together, where a blockout roller sits behind and the drapes stay open.

How we measure and fit it

We measure the drop from the fixing point to the floor, not from the top of the window, because the track position is a decision rather than a given. Where the cornice allows, the track goes to the ceiling so the fabric starts above the window and there is nothing to fall behind. Where it does not, the track is fixed to the wall above the architrave with enough height for the pelmet to cover it.

Width is measured across the full opening plus an overlap each side, then the return is added, which is the short section of track that bends back to the wall so the curtain finishes against plaster. Fullness is set at 2 times the track width so the curtain folds properly and closes flat when drawn. The hem is weighted and cut to sit just off the floor, close enough to seal, clear enough not to drag. Full price bands for every option are on the 2026 pricing page.

Lead time and care

Allow 3 to 5 weeks from quote approval. Nothing is off the shelf. For care, do not machine wash a lined or interlined curtain, because the face fabric and the lining shrink differently and the panel will never hang straight afterwards. Vacuum with a soft brush twice a year, dry clean occasionally, and dress the folds back into place after a wash or a move. Triple-weave is more forgiving and many ranges hand wash cold, but check the specific care label.

If warmth rather than darkness is your main problem, read thermal curtains, and if the window is a bay, see bay window curtains since the track has to be bent rather than straight.