window treatments Archives - Linda Varone | Nurturing Spaces Feng Shui

How to Keep Cool(er) During the Dog Days of Summer.

With almost universal air conditioning, we have become lulled into the habit of flicking a switch for instant cool. But this dependence on air conditioning is costly in both dollars ($$$) and natural resources. Use light and heat-blocking window treatments to keep your home cooler.

picure of sunlight and heat waves enter and are trapped within a glass house. — This is the Greenhouse Effect in your home. The windows trap radiant heat.

The Greenhouse Effect

You know about the Greenhouse Effect and its impact on Global Warming. Every time you get into a car on a sunny day and the interior of the car is hotter than the air outside, you are experiencing your own Greenhouse Effect. But do you know how the Greenhouse Effect works within your own home? Sunlight enters your home through your windows, bringing light energy and heat energy. The glass in your windows traps the heat energy, causing your home to become hotter and hotter. This can be perfect on a cold winter’s day, but during the hot days of summer, either your air conditioning goes into overdrive or your home stays hot. (Note: The all-glass modern houses of the 1950s and ’60s were designed when fuel was cheap.)

This is where smart window treatments come in. Learn how your grandparents kept cool(er) and what Europeans in old houses still do today. For part of the day, you want to block out sunlight and radiant heat from your home. I have written about window treatments that open your views and connect you with nature. You can have both, provided you use the right light and heat-blocking window treatments.

What are the four reasons for window treatments?

Protection from the sun’s glare and heat.
Protection from winter cold and drafts.
Protection from unattractive views.
Protection from nosy neighbors.

View of palm tree against blue sky, through partially opened plantation shutter — In hot climates, plantation shutters are used to filter out light, allow cooling breezes to enter, and provide people with privacy.

Learn how to use window treatments to keep your home cool.

Before the day heats up, in the early morning, close your windows and draw your drapes, blinds, and shutters, especially in bedrooms, sun-drenched rooms, and unused rooms. (Some of the older houses on Beacon Hill, Boston, have interior shutters for just this purpose. (In the old days, shutters weren’t for decoration.) In modern Rome, there is a daily ritual of opening, closing, and adjusting windows and solid shutters as the sun moves across the sky. Are your drapes lined to keep out sunlight, heat, and cold? Are your shades room-darkening? You may want to close out the heat in all the windows of your home, or maybe just the rooms facing the sun. If you have skylights, consider adding adjustable shades to them for the hot days. As the day gets cooler, you can open your window treatments.

Woman in darkened room opening heavy curtains to see the light outside. — Light-blocking curtains are helpful during both hot summer days and cold winter months.

Lighti blocking shades dim sun glare in bedroom — Partially lowered, these light-blocking shades soften the sunlight in this bedroom.

The trick is to have light-blocking or at least light-filtering window treatments.

This means curtains made from a heavy fabric, or a thinner fabric with light-blocking linings. If your curtains don’t have light-blocking linings, you can improvise using an extra curtain rod, clip-on curtain rings, and light-blocking fabric. Measure, cut, and hang the lining fabric from the extra curtain rod tucked behind your decorative curtains. This way, the curtain is between the window and your decorative curtains.

Too often, we keep our window treatments open all the time. This is great for light and views, but we need to remember that our window treatments give us the option to close them.

If you feel claustrophobic or cut off from nature when your window treatments are closed, then consider solar shades or variations on them. They are mounted like window shades and are made of one of several densities of heavy plastic mesh that block out different degrees of light (and heat) while allowing a veiled view of the outdoors. You have probably seen them at your local Starbucks.

Living room with white solar shades. — These solar shades eliminate the sun-glare in this room while allowing views outside.

Open and Close: Take advantage of the cooler air outside

If it is a cool evening, open the windows to catch the cooling breezes. If the night is cool and humidity is not an issue, leave your windows open and sleep with the cool air from outdoors, moved by a fan placed in or by the window. If you need to keep your windows closed, then adjust your AC settings for a night without radiant heat from the sun. This won’t eliminate your need for air conditioning on blistering hot, humid days, but it will keep your home a bit cooler, so your HVAC system doesn’t have to use as much electricity. Your approach to using window treatments will vary as the warm months progress, and overcast days may not require any sun blocking. Experiment with this and see what works best for you.

Air conditioning makes life easier during the hot months, but we don’t have to rely on it exclusively to stay cool. Reclaim some of the wisdom of your ancestors. Use light and heat-blocking window treatments. Stay cool, save money, and conserve energy at the same time.

plantation shutter photo by simonsimages

Feng Shui has known for centuries that contact with nature is essential for balance and health. Recently a growing number of Architectural Psychology studies have supported this wisdom – contact with nature decreases blood pressure and the incidence of chronic-stress related illness. The right – or wrong – window treatments make all the difference.

But many of my Feng Shui clients have unknowingly set up their homes to limit connection with nature. How? They use window treatments – curtains, blinds and shades – that block views of nature that nourish energy and spirit.

Window Treatments

Curtains:

Too often I see curtains and valances covering a third or more of the window. This limits your access to light and nature. BIG curtains are meant for BIG windows in TALL rooms.

Solution #1: Hang valances and swags higher, so that the bottom edge of the valance is just below the top of the window. A recent Feng Shui client was excited with how much more light came into her kitchen with this simple change.

Solution #2: Mount your curtain rod closer to the ceiling. This will make your window look bigger when the curtains are closed.

Solution #3: Use longer curtain rods, 6-12 inches on each side, so when your curtains are open they gather and hang along the outer edge of the window – framing your view, not blocking it.

Shades:

Shades can be an all-or-nothing window treatment. If you need protection from sun glare, you draw the shade and close off all access to sunlight. And your room feels like a dark box.

Solution #1: Consider a pleated or honey comb shade for softly diffused light.

If you need protection from nosey neighbors, you do not need to shut out all access to nature along with curious eyes.

Solution #2: Bottom-up pleated shades give you visual privacy while allowing you to leave the top half of your window open to light and views of sky and trees.

Blinds:

If you use blinds for protection from sun glare or nearby neighbors:

Solution: Adjust your blinds so the blades are partially open and either tilted up or down to get the light and privacy you need, this will give you indirect light and avoid a totally dark room.

Simple changes in your curtains, blinds and shades will give you access to sunlight and connection with the natural world outside your window. Take a look around your home and see where some easy changes can make a big difference.

Light and Heat-Blocking Window Treatments Keep You Cooler: Save Money and Energy