Managing the Summer Sun

Practical Ways to reduce glare, heat and early wake ups.

It’s already February and it feels like summer has only just begun. Summer brings bright days and early sunrises. While we love the light, too much direct sun indoors can lead to glare, heat build-up, faded furnishings, and disrupted sleep. A few simple changes to how we manage the sunlight, can make our homes feel more comfortable.

Choose what’s right for your space

Before deciding on a window treatment, it helps to be clear about what you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to;

• soften the sunlight but keep the view?
• keep your privacy but not block the light?
• reduce the glare in a home office
• cool a north-facing room that gets hot?
• protect furnishings from fading?
• block the light?

Once you know what you need, its easier to choose the right solution. Sometimes is a combination of treatments that work, sometimes its just one. Even small changes can make your home feel more comfortable when the sun finally does decide to show up.

Roller blinds for summer sun

Roller blinds are an easy and effective way to manage summer light.

Light-filtering roller blinds soften harsh sunlight and reduce glare, making spaces more comfortable during the day without blocking natural light entirely. They also help protect furniture and flooring from fading.

A lot of roller blind fabrics contain PVCs and vinyl which can smell very chemical like when exposed to the sun. Make sure you choose fabrics that are free of PVC and formaldehyde, making them a safe option for your home.

Our Eco Sunscreen fabric is made in Europe from 100% Trevira® a high-performance polyester that is Oeko-Tex certified. Most fabrics in this range are certified for the lowest VOC emissions and are free from PVC and formaldehyde, making them a safer option for your home. These fabrics combine outward visibility with excellent glare and heat control.

Did you know you can still see through some roller blind fabrics?

Roller blind fabrics come with different openness factors, allowing you to balance privacy, sun protection, and outward visibility. It may seem counterintuitive, but darker fabrics generally provide better daytime visibility and less glare than lighter ones.

Darker colours can absorb more heat and may fade over time, so choosing the right fabric for the space is important.

Blockout roller blinds are particularly handy in bedrooms. They can help children (and adults) sleep longer in the mornings and make it easier to settle at night. They are particularly helpful for early sunrises and bright streetlights.

You can even double up. Combining a Blockout and a sheer roller blind can give you the best of both the need for filtering and blocking the light.

Other ways to manage summer sun

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Other options include:

• Sheer curtains – a soft, beautiful way to diffuse light while maintaining a sense of openness. We love linens for this, but NZ’s harsh sunlight does mean they may need replacing more often than roller blinds
• Colour choice – lighter colours can feel brighter but may cause more glare; darker colours reduce glare and improve visibility but absorb more heat
• Window tinting – a film applied directly to glass to reduce heat and glare. From our perspective, this is essentially adding a plastic layer to your windows. Over time it can degrade, may off-gas, and will ultimately need replacing, meaning more material heading to landfill.

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