Blackout

Edith will not go to sleep if there is even a sliver of light anywhere in the bedroom, by which she can stare, rapt, at the ceiling fan. So several months ago, I procured some blackout curtains and my mom and I tried and failed to hang them by way of putting up curtain rods. We called my dad for help, and he explained by speakerphone that it really wasn’t that difficult and was surely something we could manage to do, and then he continued to detail what seemed like a twelve step process that required such things as hand-eye coordination, arm strength, and an attention span. While he was talking, Mom mouthed “staple gun?” at me, and I nodded excitedly, so then we had only to finish politely listening to Dad.

“Sounds great!” said Mom. “We can for sure do that.”

Then, we hung up and stapled the curtains along the wall. This worked a treat, but when we moved to the new house, the windows were too high and the walls were too…nubbly or something for the staple gun to work. Plus, I had bought thicker curtains. We thought about cutting cardboard to fit, but that also seemed time intensive. Then, Mom thought of the perfect solution:

These two little windows are in between two regular big ones, which got the same treatment, only those have blinds also on the inside, so it’s not as apparent. I can highly recommend this DIY method: installation was dead simple and very fast, and it fully blocks all light. People who live in their vans know what’s up.