Summer colours are predominantly the colours of an English summer garden, yellows, pinks and greens and the feeling of freshness you will achieve by introducing these colours into your home is remarkable, with even the dullest North facing room quickly being brightened, lifting the general mood of the room.
Alternatively, now that our summers are sunnier, the cool blues and turquoises of the Mediterranean decor, interspersed with brightly coloured ceramics and plenty of indoor plants are becoming more and more popular.
Mixing the old with the new.
These informal decors are very much at home with mixing the old with the new and introducing the odd piece of antique or elaborate furniture will not be out of place. These styles are not an expensive look to achieve and you will be amazed at the fabulous pieces of furniture and accessories that you can find in your local auction rooms or even at car boot sales.
Both styles of decor call for lots of flower strewn fabrics, although not too large in a small room, that will echo the flowers and foliage in your garden, welcoming the beauty of the garden into your indoor living space.
Lots of pretty things – often clutter from the past is the brief for a cottage style decor. Pine or painted old fashioned style furniture with simple lines fit well into a country cottage look, with lots of comfy seating complete with cushions that complement or match the curtains or blinds. A Mediterranean decor calls more for the wicker or metal furniture look, with a more minimal feel as far as decorative accessories are concerned.
Getting Your Windows Summer Ready
With sunny days becoming much more frequent, fitting a good quality window treatment that can be used during the day will help protect your furniture, carpets and accessories such as pictures and photos from being bleached by the sun by blocking the harmful UV rays from entering the room via the windows.
Our summers are now often too hot for comfort, especially at night, so here are a few tips to help you to keep the temperature down and help you to control the heat from the sun as well as help you to make savings on your electricity bill by minimising the use of air conditioning or electric fans.
Good quality window treatments are one of the best ways to maintain the temperature in a room. They will reduce the heat loss in a room via the window in the cold winter months, with the added bonus of helping to reduce your heating bills and in the summer, they will seriously reduce the heat from the sun pouring into your windows.
If you want to take full benefit of the ability of your curtains or blinds to help keep the room cool, then you will need to close them well before the sun has had a chance to heat up the room. This is particularly important for east facing elevations as the sun will start to heat up this side of the house early in the day. Closing the curtains late in the day or early evening however will trap the heat inside the room. This is the time to open the curtains and windows and let the cooler evening breeze come into the room.
Good Quality Window Treatments
One of the most effective ways to keep your house cool in the summer and help to keep it warm in the winter is to fit interlined curtains or roman blinds and then to keep them and the actual window closed during a sunny day.
A window finish with light controlling properties will also ensure you can watch your television of computer screen without the light interfering with the quality of the viewing of the screen.
How to ensure a quality window treatment.
1. Be generous with your measurements.
How to measure for curtains or blinds.
When measuring for your curtains or blinds, ensure that your are generous with the measurements, covering at least 8 inches of the wall either side of the window opening so the heat from the window cannot creep round the edge of the curtains or blinds. Full length curtains will stop the heat from the window leaking down behind the curtains.
2. Have Your Curtains or Blinds Interlined.
What are interlined curtains or blinds?
Interlined curtains or blinds are made with a thick layer of wadding rather like cotton wool, which is sewn into the curtains or blinds between the main curtain fabric and the curtain lining. This extra layer not only gives the curtains or blinds a feeling of opulence, but also insulates the windows. Interlined window treatments are much heavier than normal, so will need to be fitted to good quality curtain poles or tracks.
3. Fit Solar Reflective or Blackout Blinds
What are Solar reflective blinds?
A solar reflective blind has a special pearlescent backing that reflects both heat and a degree of light out of the room. These blinds do not offer a blackout finish.
What are Blackout thermal blinds?
This type of blind has a special white backing to the fabric which reflects the heat and light out of the room during the day which can be particularly of interest to those of us who are light sleepers or have children who may be woken at the first light of dawn.
This property also has obvious advantages in the winter as it will create an insulated barrier, helping to keep the heat in the room from escaping through the windows.
4. Fit a Double Window Treatment
What is a double window treatment?
This type of window covering is also often known as a layered window treatment. The most popular choice is to fit blinds with the particular quality backing you are looking to control, normally heat or light. The blinds will need to be measured carefully to ensure they fit well into the gap or to completely cover the window opening so that the light will leak around the edges of the blinds. The curtains are then fitted to a curtain pole which will often make more of a decorate statement than using blinds on their own.
Blinds used in conjunction with your curtains will helping to stop the curtain fabric and lining from rotting in the sun. This form of double window treatment is particularly beneficial if your choice of curtain fabric happens to be silk as this beautiful fabric is very susceptible to deterioration from the sun.
