How to cover LED lights in your bedroom

Once your eyes adjust to the dark, a single blue charger light can glow across the whole room. Here's how to find every light, which ones to block or dim, which ones to leave alone, and how to cover them without leaving sticky residue.

Find every light

Turn off the room lights, get into bed and wait a few minutes. Then look around. The usual ones:

• Phone, laptop and watch chargers
• Power strips and surge protectors
• The Wi-Fi router and modem
• TV, soundbar and game console standby lights
• Air purifier, humidifier and fan displays
• Alarm clocks and smart speakers

Free fixes first

• Check the settings. Many routers, TVs, air purifiers and smart speakers have a setting or app option that turns the status lights off or dims them.
• Unplug or switch off. Anything you don't need overnight can go off at the power strip (then turn the power strip's own light away from the bed).
• Turn it around. Facing a device toward the wall often takes care of it.

Block or dim?

• Block completely the lights you never need to read at night: chargers, TV standby, power strips.
• Dim the lights you still need to check, like the router's status lights, so you can tell if the internet is down without lighting up the room.

Don't cover these

• Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Their lights and markings tell you the alarm is working.
• Vents and fans. Cover only the light itself, never the vents next to it.
• Warning and charging-error lights on anything you rely on, like a medical device or a battery backup.

Tape or stickers?

Electrical tape works, but it can leave sticky residue, peels at the corners and looks messy. Light-blocking stickers are cut to LED sizes and come off cleanly from smooth plastic. For either one, wipe the surface clean and dry first, and press the edges down firmly. Textured or rubbery surfaces don't hold stickers well.

Blackout Dots

Blackout Dots come as two sheets of die-cut circles and rectangles: one that blocks light fully and one tinted sheet that dims it. They're thin and light, so they ship with a Contour Mask order. For the light that's left, see our guide to making a room dark for day sleep.