While air-conditioning can cool your home during the height of summer, having it constantly running can significantly affect your energy bills. This leaves homeowners suffering – from both the heat and a lighter wallet.
Window Treatments
Many homeowners invest in window coverings for the style and privacy they bring their homes, however, many don’t realise their energy-saving benefits! By utilising the right blinds and
window treatments, homeowners can keep their homes cool without running the risk of absurd energy bills.
But the question remains. How? In this post, we will discuss the best window treatments for your Australian home.
The Benefits of Blinds and Awnings
Window coverings such as blinds and awnings have the ability to transform the look and feel of your home. When throughout out and effectively used, they can improve both the look and feel of a space.
Some benefits of blinds and awnings include:
- Privacy control: Blinds and awnings can help to achieve privacy control with modern, clean designs. Whether you need light-filtering or solid coverings, blinds and awnings are perfect for achieving your desired level of privacy.
- Light control: When compared to curtains, blinds give you full control over the amount of light you allow in your space. They can tilt, close full or open fully to let in just the right amount of light.
- Affordability: Window awnings and blinds have become a popular window treatment choice given their affordability.
- Low-Maintenance: Blinds and awnings are easy to clean and maintain. A simple wipe and dust with a damp cloth will have them looking as good as new!
Choosing Your Window Treatments
There are a number of
window treatments that can keep your home cool in Summer. These include:
Awnings
While they are unable to fully close, awnings provide much-needed protection from both the rain and sun. Depending on their orientation, studies have shown that many awnings can reduce solar heat gain by up to 77%.
Additionally, retractable awnings offer the added benefit of control. Keep them up in summer for added sun protection or take them down in the cooler winter months to naturally warm up your home.
When choosing awnings for your home, consider where they will be installed and the colour you will be using. Lighter colours tend to reflect the heat and light more when compared to darker colours.
Blinds
While many blinds do not control heat loss as well as awnings, they do offer great light and ventilation control. When completely closed, highly reflective blinds can reduce heat gain by around 45% and can even be adjusted to direct sunlight towards the ceiling
.
Shades
Window Shades are one of the best ways to save energy. Not only do they reflect the sun’s heat and keep your home cool, but they also prevent furniture from fading.
When choosing shades, homeowners are encouraged to utilise reversible shades that can be switched depending on the season. During summer, the light side of the shades can be used to reflect heat and light, whereas the darker side can be used to absorb heat during the cooler months.
Helping Keep Your Home Cool & Stylish
Homemakers Lifestyle are here to help you transform your home. With a range of blinds, awnings and shades to choose from, they are Brisbane’s leading window treatment experts.
Backed by years of experience, they are able to help you determine the best style, colour and size of window treatment for your home. Get in touch today!
