Where to buy cheap blinds/curtains in ChCh?

[althea]

I've had a little trouble sleeping recently, and I read that good light-blocking curtains/blinds would help with that. My room is in direct line of the morning sun, which is a good thing when you are awake, but not when you want to sleep. I've checked out some of the stores online though, but the prices seem very outrageous to a student. Most of the curtains don't go for any less than $200! The window is an average height and has a width of slightly more than 2 metres.

I don't really care about aesthetics as long they don't leave any permanent marks (rented room). Tried a common venetian blind, does not work at all. Am thinking of just cardboarding up the window, but it would suck to not be able to look outside when I want to...

[Kanga]

I've had a little trouble sleeping recently, and I read that good light-blocking curtains/blinds would help with that. My room is in direct line of the morning sun, which is a good thing when you are awake, but not when you want to sleep. I've checked out some of the stores online though, but the prices seem very outrageous to a student. Most of the curtains don't go for any less than $200! The window is an average height and has a width of slightly more than 2 metres.

I don't really care about aesthetics as long they don't leave any permanent marks (rented room). Tried a common venetian blind, does not work at all. Am thinking of just cardboarding up the window, but it would suck to not be able to look outside when I want to...

Blu tak the cardboard up so you can remove it each morning? Or you could cut it to fit the panes exactly and then use the adhesive velcro you can buy that teachers use- the bit you stick to the glass would surely be easy to remove when the rental is up and any residue rubbed off with turps or similar, which is cheap. I think you'll find black out blinds are prohibitively expensive for a student in a rental.

[Duncan74]

Or even more leftfield - an eye mask. When i was in the flat I rented last year I used the eye mask from the flight bag when I needed to sleep in as the curtains there weren't great. Took 2 attempts to get used to it and was a bit freaked out when I woke up the first few times, but after that was fine.

[victoria24]

paint the windows black its the cheapest way in NZ!

[sophiedb]

We ended up getting ours from Millers on Blenheim Rd - they have a sale on now, if that helps. Pricey, but not horrendous on quality.

I remember looking at the cheaper ones in the Warehouse and thinking *bleh*... they didn't look like they'd hold up too well, and I like to buy stuff that will stick around for at least a decade if I can

[JandM]

To be honest, thinking of the cost of suitable blackout fabric, new, $200 is not expensive for a blind or curtain to cover an area 2m+ wide and 'average window' deep, with the making and the fittings. If that is feeling expensive, you'll need to go for one of these great improvised solutions.

[althea]

Urgh, back where I come from thick curtain fabric usually costs less than $100 total. I guess this takes getting used to.

QUOTE=Kanga;416607]Blu tak the cardboard up so you can remove it each morning? Or you could cut it to fit the panes exactly and then use the adhesive velcro you can buy that teachers use- the bit you stick to the glass would surely be easy to remove when the rental is up and any residue rubbed off with turps or similar, which is cheap. I think you'll find black out blinds are prohibitively expensive for a student in a rental.[/QUOTE]

Not sure what you mean by the bolded.. does velcro work on glass?

[JandM]

You can get velcro which has adhesive backing both to the side with the hooks and the side with the loops. So you'd stick the looped half onto the glass, and the hooked half onto the cardboard, then you could put up your cardboard and take it down again as often as you wanted. Then at the end of the tenancy, all you'd need to do would be to remove what you stuck to the glass.

[JandL]

Not sure what the cost of blackout lining is over there, but back in UK you can get it on a roll at like £4 a metre. I buy enough to double-over, and crimp (I use a stapler!!) it into a single layer, and stick it up ON the frame itself with velcro, same colour as the frame can't even see it. Got 3 kids who's rooms are completely dark, takes 2 seconds to rip off and 5 seconds to put up. For the cost and the saving of sleep, event £40 a metre is worth it!

[peebles16]

We got some fairly plain, inoffensive, thermal backed curtains for the kids bedrooms in the Warehouse for less than $200 in their sale - they block out most of the light. By inoffensive I mean plain in colour and not that kind of pattern you need to wear sunglasses to look at If you are having trouble sleeping though maybe worth looking bed time routines etc to see if that impacts on getting to sleep.... I had real trouble sleeping about a year ago and went to see a herbalist who advised me on my diet and I also take a magnesium supplement which has made a big difference.

Best of luck

Karen