Linda Varone | Nurturing Spaces Feng Shui

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How to Keep Your Home Cooler: Smart Window Treatments Save You Money and Energy

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With summer giving us blasts of hot weather, keeping cool is a real challenge. Recently I have been in several homes that had been unnecessarily hot, simply because their owners did not know a few old tricks.

With almost universal air conditioning we have become habituated to flick a switch for instant cool. But this can become expensive and uses a lot of our natural resources.

diagram of greenhouse effect in a home. Sun and heat rays
The Greenhouse Effect: How windows trap heat inside your home.

You know about the Greenhouse Effect and its impact on Global Warming. But do you know about the Greenhouse Effect in your own home? Sunlight enters your home through your windows, bringing light energy and heat energy. Part of the heat energy cannot exit through the glass and is trapped in your home, making it hotter and hotter. This can be delightful on a cold winter’s day, but during the hot days of summer, it can be a killer. Either your air conditioning goes into overdrive or the space stays hot. (The all-glass modern houses of the 50’s and 60’s were designed when fuel was cheap.)

This is where smart window treatments come in.  This taps into what our grandparents did to keep cool(er) and what is still done in Europe. For part of the day you want to block out sunlight – and heat- from your home. I have written about window treatments which open your views and connect you with nature   You can have both, using the right window treatments.

There are 4 reasons for window treatments:

  1. Protection from sunglare and heat.
  2. Protection from winter cold.
  3. Protection from unattractive views
  4. Protection from nosey neighbors.
View of palm tree against blue sky, through partially opened plantation shutter
In hot climes plantation shutters are used to filter out light and allow cooling breezes to enter.

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

Before the day heats-up, early morning, close your windows and draw your drapes, blinds and shutters, especially in bedrooms and unused rooms. (Some of the older houses on Beacon Hill have interior shutters for just this purpose.) If you have skylights consider adding adjustable shades to them for the hot days. 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. As the day gets cooler open your window treatments. If it is a cool evening, open the windows to catch the cooling breezes. If the night is cool, leave your windows open and sleep with the cool air from outdoors, moved by a fan placed in or by the window. I personally prefer to sleep in an air-cooled bedroom, than in an air-conditioned bedroom.

Experiment with this and see what works best for you. If you don’t like to feel closed-in, then try solar shades. These are mounted like window shades, but are made of several densities of heavy plastic mesh that blocks out different degrees of light (and heat) while allowing a veiled view of the out-of-doors.

Air conditioning makes life easier during the hot months, but we don’t have to use it exclusively to keep cool. Re-claim some of the wisdom of your ancestors. Stay cool and save money and energy at the same time.

greenhouse image by realscience dot org dot uk

plantation shutter photo by simonsimages

Feng Shui Your Window Treatments: Are Your Curtains Getting Between You and Nature?

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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 with overwhelming valence, curtains and austrian shade
Light, view and Chi-blocking window treatment

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.

photo by author