148 blackout vertical blinds, £48-£79 for a standard window (around 1500×1000 mm). Enter your exact window below - each price updates to your size, and we move you to the right size band if you go outside this one.

Blackout fabric is woven tightly or given a coated backing so daylight cannot pass through the material itself. The catch is that a blind is not a sealed box: light still leaks in around the edges, where the fabric has to sit a little narrower than the recess to move freely, and along the top of the roll or stack. Even a good blackout fabric in an ordinary recess leaves a visible glow around the edges, so it is honest to think of it as deep shade rather than total darkness.

Where that edge light matters most - nurseries, shift workers sleeping in the day, media rooms, bright south-facing bedrooms - the answer is to seal the sides. Look for side channels or blackout tracks, a framed style such as perfect-fit or a roof blind held in channels, or a face-fixed blind cut to overlap the reveal. One real limit: slatted and louvred blinds (venetian, vertical) and layered day-and-night blinds cannot truly black out, because the slat tilts, cord holes and sheer bands always pass some light however dark the fabric. For genuine darkness, rollers, lined romans, channelled pleated and roof blinds get closest.

Two things help when you are choosing. The darkness comes from the coating or the tight weave, not the shade, so a pale blackout fabric blocks just as well as a dark one - pick the colour you want and let the cloth do the work. And blackout is really about light rather than warmth or noise, though a dense fabric does take a little of the chill and the echo out of a room as a welcome side benefit. If a blind is sold as a blackout venetian or a blackout vertical, read that as the darkest the style manages, not a promise of a dark room.

If a properly dark room is the goal, two fittings make the biggest difference: choosing a face fit cut to overlap the opening by a good margin on every side, or adding side channels that the fabric runs inside. Both close down the edge gap an ordinary recess blind leaves, and they matter far more to the result than the grade of fabric on its own. Measure for that overlap before you order, because a blackout blind cut to the bare opening will always leave the thin line of light at the edges you were trying to be rid of.

A vertical blind hangs as a row of fabric louvres that rotate to angle the light and draw to one side, or split to the middle, to clear the glass. Tilting the louvres lets you cut glare and keep privacy without losing the whole view, which makes verticals a natural fit for wide windows, patio and sliding doors, conservatories and home offices. They handle big spans gracefully where a single flat blind would be heavy or unwieldy.

Louvres come in everything from sheers to blackout weaves, and PVC louvres suit damp or high-traffic rooms. Closed and tilted flat they block most daylight, but the gaps between louvres always leak a little, so they shade rather than black out a room. A practical bonus is repairability: louvres unclip individually, so a single damaged or grubby one can be washed or swapped without replacing the blind. Over a wide window a vertical is usually one of the more economical ways to cover the area.

You can set the louvres to draw to one side, part to the centre, or stack at both ends, whichever clears your opening best, and a wand-operated version replaces the chain and cord for a cleaner, more child-friendly finish. A weighted hem and a linking bottom chain keep the louvres hanging straight and stop them swaying in a draught from an open door.

RollerRomanVerticalVenetianDay & NightPleatedPanel
Any lightBlackoutDimoutVoileSheerLight-filtering
Colour:

60 of 148 ranges shown (the 60 cheapest; production paginates).

Supreme

Supreme Vertical

at Vertical Blinds Direct

from £55.00 in 37 colours

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Gb Artivis Navy

Gb Artivis Navy Vertical

at Vertical Blinds Direct

from £56.00 in 2 colours

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Voga Textured

Voga Textured Vertical

at Blinds Direct

from £57.00 in 5 colours

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Unilux Pvc

Unilux Pvc Vertical

at Swift Direct Blinds

from £59.00 in 8 colours

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Voga

Voga Vertical

at Vertical Blinds Direct

from £59.00 in 4 colours

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Tradechoice

Tradechoice Vertical

at Blinds By Post

from £62.00 in 18 colours

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Somerset

Somerset Vertical

at Vertical Blinds Direct

from £74.00 in 2 colours

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Alicante Marble Pvc

Alicante Marble Pvc Vertical

at Blinds 2go

from £75.00 in 2 colours

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Banlight Duo Fr Flame Retardant

Banlight Duo Fr Flame Retardant Vertical

at So Easy Blinds

from £75.00 in 30 colours

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Optima

Optima Vertical

at Vertical Blinds Direct

from £76.00 in 10 colours

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