Sunlight is vital for our health, and natural light can help make interior spaces seem brighter and airier. However, too much sunlight can fade and damage furniture, and glare from the sun can be seriously frustrating. Not only that, but too much sun also translates into too much heat, and this can force you to spend more on cooling your home than you’d like. The trick is controlling the amount of sunlight in your home.
That’s where blinds come in! From venetian blinds to roller blinds, there is a range of options for managing sunlight in your home, and saving yourself long term on electricity bills from your air conditioning. Managing the sunlight in your home with blinds also helps you warm your home during the winter, by keeping in the heat at night.
Read on to learn our top three ways to manage the ambient heat and light in your home with quality blinds.
A classic option, venetian blinds look great and give you a lot of control over how much light gets in. You can even use the blade angle to let light in while maintaining privacy if you want.
There are many venetian blind designs, so you never have to worry about whether you’ll find a set that matches your interior and/or exterior aesthetic. While choosing colours, however, keep in mind that lighter tones help reflect light. This explains why many blinds are white, grey, or beige.
For spaces that see a lot of sun, you might want to try sunscreen blinds. This blind design excels in sun-drenched areas like lounges or sunrooms. The great thing about sunscreen blinds is that they come in different fabric transparencies. For example, here at Home Vision Blinds, we carry two weights of sunscreen blinds. The ‘sun filter’ weight still lets some light through, but it has a rice-paper effect, in which you can only see silhouettes. The standard sunscreen blind weight lets through slightly more light and is lightly woven, eliminating glare and limiting the amount of sunlight and heat entering your home without cutting it off completely.
Blackout Blinds are the typical option for those looking to block out as much light as possible. They’re most common in places that need to be dark, like bedrooms. They’re easy to install and can be changed without much difficulty. The thicker fabric of these blinds is highly effective for avoiding over-heating and makes glare a complete non-issue.
Roller blinds that feature a motor for lifting and lowering are becoming increasingly popular for several reasons. First, they feel very high-tech, but don’t cost all that much more. Second, they can be programmed or set on a timer, which means you can set up precise times throughout the day for your blinds to open or close automatically.
Motorised roller blinds in NZ are also becoming more popular because they can make opening and closing your blinds much easier, even if the blinds are in physically hard-to-reach places, such as up near the ceiling, where it would be too dangerous or time-consuming to operate them by hand.
Here at Home Vision Blinds, we know how to manage sunlight. If you’re dealing with the problems above—glare, overheating, or light damage to interior pieces—then we can help you find the perfect blinds for your space. Don’t wait, contact us today to find out more.