Dos and don'ts of sunny interiors
DO ensure that your windows are clean inside and out, and that your hedges and other greenery have been trimmed. If your windows can't accommodate wash-from-within methods, make outdoor cleaning a weekend project or hire a professional company. To facilitate future cleaning, install windows that rotate inward, which are available from window manufacturers.
DO choose window treatments that let in light. When pulled aside with a tieback or hanging in straight panels at window sides, full draperies needn't interfere with sunlight filtering in. Sheer fabric provides a modest amount of privacy; warm pale colours help enliven the grey light of drizzly days.
DON'T paint windowsills and surrounds dark colours, which absorb light. Instead, opt for light-reflecting colours like ivory, cream and white.
DON'T choose dark colours for the walls of rooms used during the day. To paraphrase interior design legend Eleanor McMillen Brown, every room needs a touch of yellow. Good advice if you love the idea of sunshine indoors. Any warm, pale colour will give you the desired result.
DO include reflective materials like chrome, nickel, brass, silver, crystal and glass, which bounce light into a room. Mirrors, a designer's not-so-secret weapon in the fight to expand space, are a really great option. Pick tiles with a shiny surface for a kitchen backsplash or bathroom shower surround.
DON'T use an abundance of patterns. As a general rule, patterns absorb more light than solid fabrics.
1 Comment
I love the look of these windows but if the house faces the south/east this much light can really tax your air conditioner and cause hardwood floors to fade. Would it be a bad thing to put wooden horizontal blinds (they can be opened, slanted up or down or closed)?