Q - "We have a nice row house in Mt Pleasant that has a great wall of windows in the rear facing our newly redone deck. The problem is we have no idea how/what kind of window coverings would work for this space...
(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first.
Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to:
dc(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com)
...We've lived here for almost 3 years and in the summer the late evening sun streams in and covers half of the space, making sitting and eating at the main dinner table very uncomfortable, as well as dumping a lot of heat into the space. The back windows face north and the sun comes in from the left in the picture. I thought sun shades on the outside might work to block the sun, but they would be inconvenient to put up and take down every evening, and we don't have anchor points in place strong enough to keep them up all the time. We face the back alley and no one is directly behind us so we aren't looking for coverings for privacy, we just want to keep the summer sun out of the back room at dinner time. Thanks!"
A - John, I faced this problem when living in Kuwait and in the end had to get UV film installed on the windows to cut the heat — that project was a nightmare even when handled by experienced professionals, but the end result was a dramatic reduction in the glare and the heat. Absent some kind of UV blocker, you may begin to notice sun fading on those fabulous orange chairs and even on your wood furniture.
Sheer curtains will help cut the glare, but do little to help keep your space cool. You can get radiant barrier fabric that could be turned into curtains to help cut the heat; perhaps consider hanging those curtains on the outside of the doors and windows if you want to maintain the clean lines of your windows during the cooler months.
Have any readers successfully addressed this problem?
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Good old bamboo shades are easy to install, clear enough to let in some lovely filtered light (as they don't block the view) but thick enough to aquire shade and air coolness.
view mihaela's profile
Check out Ikea Enje white roller blinds http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00130643 -- we've got them throughout our rowhouse, and they hold up really well and look clean & elegant. They come in various widths, so you could mount a series of them in a line close to your ceiling, and pull them down to the same level to unify your varying windo heights. Lots of Ikea stuff is crap, but this is an excellent product!
view Arkay's profile
I have a 40' room with one wall of windows facing east. We use fairly light-colored solar shades that are in the same tones as the wall color. This helps avoid creating a checkerboard effect among the windows, shade, and trim.
That being said, we still get more heat in the summer than is ideal and will likely have UV film professionally installed or adding external solar blinds over the large windows that we can keep closed in the early morning hours when the sun is strongest.
view Indy Jeffrey's profile
First, let me say that I love your space.
Consider solar roller blinds that will allow a filter view and reduce heat. I like them because they look sleek and give the outside view an inside feel without letting all of the light and heat in. I got mine online at smith and noble
http://www.smithandnoble.com/sn/product_detail.jsp?sch_cat=Solar%20Roller%20Shades&prod_oid=253279&nav_cat=-18002&view
I also have drop down celluar shades in some rooms that afford more privacy where needed.
Good luck
view Peter knockstead's profile
I second the UV film suggestion.
We had the same problem. A huge south facing patio door and almost equally huge window right next to it. The heat coming in was unbearable. We bought our own from HomeDepot and installed it ourselves- Gila brand (I believe the packaging said it blocks heat and UV). We bought the highest protection the first time (supposed to block 70% of the heat or something) - but it turned out to be too dark and didn't let in enough light. So we tore it off the windows and bought the lightest one - it was perfect. After we covered half of the patio door, we stood right behind the section that was covered and then moved over to the uncovered section - there was a HUGE difference in the amount of heat that came in.
Installing the window film was easy and yet frustrating at the same time - especially since our dog's hair kept finding it's way in between the film and the window. I'd recommend a professional if it's in your budget. If not, you can try doing it yourself on some of your smaller windows first. If you mess up you can always relatively easily peel it off.
In addition to the film, we have double curtain rods over the patio door. We hung white curtains on the inner rod and a dark chocolate/khaki colored heavy Ikea canvas grommet top curtain on the outside rod. When it's really too bright outside we close the Ikea curtains to help darken the room - great for helping with the glare when watching a mid-day movie. Normally we push the dark curtains aside and only use the white ones for a pretty filtered light effect.
view joules's profile
UV window film AND bamboo shades.
view Kpaige13's profile
This is our place, and thanks for all the suggestions. I'll most likely be doing some window film myself over the next few weeks. That should help with the heat that gets dumped in the room in the evening. The floor is tile over concrete, so the concrete soaks the heat up and keeps the room hot late into the evening. Still haven't decided on a screening solution to keep the light/glare out. Fully 2/3-3/4 of the room is covered in the evening, so the table is only half usable at prime dinner time. Maybe some ikea roller shades are worth investigating again.
view ljyang's profile
I have the same problem as you. I have three large windows in the back of my condo and the sun just beats on them during the hot Arizona summers. What I did was purchase a retractable awning. It blocks like 90 percent of the sun and helps cool your patio and you can roll it up during the winter. But those can be pricey. So, what I did before I purchased an awning was buy one of those inexpensive plastic blinds from the home improvement store and hung them outside in front of the windows. That helped a lot and it kept the heat from the sun off the windows which kept my place much cooler. Hope this helps.
view cthomasv's profile
we just installed double roller blinds, they roll up to nothing when fully drawn allowing all the light to come in. One roller blind is a UV blind allowing the view out with a filter for heat and light. The second blind blocks light completely. We plan to use the filter for 30 degrees (celcius!) and then if we have another terrible Australian summer- ie 40 degrees we will use the thick blind.
They were inexpensive and look great in our edwardian home as you literally don't notice them when they are up.
view mittens1's profile