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Comment by davidw | Hacker News Reader

One thing I miss from Italy are real shutters:

https://blog.therealitaly.com/2007/08/09/window-technology/

I grew up sleeping in pitch black darkness, and having lived now for a while in the Nordics, where summer nights are light and curtains are mediocre at best, I can share that feeling.

I wonder if the higher rates of depression here may have something to do with this (interestingly, I remember reading somewhere that suicides in the Nordics peak in Springtime).

Second that! Curtains in Copenhagen don't blind, they blur. I think part of the reason for the spike in suicide in springtime is the hope that "things-will-be-better-in-the-light" being broken. The third monday of January has a spike in suicide as well, on account of the New Year not bring the prosperity that the excitement of december had you believe. Psychiatrists supposedly call that day blue monday.

I've lived in Norway (40 km south of Oslo for the last 32 years, generally with only light curtains. Not noticed any tendency to depression or difficulty sleeping in myself or my family.

Mind you, most hotels here that expect foreign guests have blackout blinds or at least very heavy curtains,

My first Summer in Finland, I was renting an apartment with crappy curtains. I was dead tired through May, until I broke down and duct-taped large trash bags to the windows. The difference in sleep quality was nothing short of amazing.

I have blackout curtains nowadays, and I've also gotten used to the light somewhat, but I still miss proper rolling curtains that completely shut the light out.

They are fairly common throughout most of Central Europe. I stayed in apartment a few years ago that had electric shutters; it felt like I was living on a space ship.

The Dutch are known for not owning curtains [1]. I don't know if they have shutters though.

[1] https://stuffdutchpeoplelike.com/2010/11/24/no-8-not-owning-...

The same in Denmark, but in my experience people still have curtains in the bedroom. It would be difficult to sleep (especially for children) in the summer without them.

We got "blackout curtains". Relatively easy to install and is 95% darker than blinds.

The first result on Google search points to Ikea Marjun curtains, I bought those when I lived in Berlin and I guarantee you that it was impossible to get my bedroom really dark.

On the other hand with proper outdoor shutters or roller blinds[0] you can easily get a room pitch-black.

[0] https://www.schenk-sonnenschutztechnik.de/uploads/tx_frsuper...

European shutters are pretty nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KePLmie7lE

The type shown in the video is pretty common in Germany and besides its ability to make a room pitch black it also provides a decent protection against burglary. Many, if not most of these shutters are certified for resistance class RC2 according to DIN EN 1627.

The title of the video is wrong, by the way. It is not Rouladen, which would be a dish of filled rolled meat, but Rollladen. Rollladen is literally rolling shutter and it is really written with three l in a row.

In Italy they're "tapparelle", and I think they're a fantastic thing to have for your house. With even mediocre ones you can get a room really dark even if it's pretty light outside.

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