01 Feb Want to Control the Light Flowing into Your Home?
With the wide range of window furnishings available to property owners today, there is a window product to suit every purpose. Depending on the climate, the need may be for an insulating covering to keep out the cold in winter or the heat in summer. Shift workers often need a block-out window dressing to darken their bedrooms during the day to allow them to sleep.
Night to Day and Day to Night – Is It Possible?
Among the most requested purposes for modern window dressings are solutions for complete control over light. With our modern lifestyles blurring the divisions between night and day, more than ever our clients need to be able to choose the amount of light entering their rooms at any given time of the day. We have such solutions at Newport Custom Shutters.
In the past, heavy curtains would have been the immediate thought as they could be pulled open to allow light into the room and drawn across to block it out. However, they also blocked air flow, which in the summer would make the house hot and uncomfortable. The occupants would miss out on the lovely afternoon breezes generated in summer, which refreshed the internal environment and provided relief from the heat. Heavy curtains also attracted dust.
Shutters Offer Light Control and Free Movement of Air
Shutters have since proven to be the best type of window covering to control light and, at the same time, allow the free movement of fresh air when this is desired. Even in winter, our days become quite hot by mid-morning, then cool quickly by late afternoon as the sun begins to set. For this reason, it is not practical in our climate to have window coverings that block out air completely.
Light, on the other hand, can become a problem during the day for people using computers or watching television, or who, for some other reason, need to be able to control the amount of light they are exposed to. Computer screens in particular need to be free of glare for the comfort of the operator. Long-term exposure to glare for computer workers can cause eye strain.
Control with the Flick of the Shutter Blades
The western red cedar interior shutters we manufacture at Newport Custom Shutters are lightweight and can span large openings without needing untidy mid-rails that spoil the uncluttered effect. Even when covering a large opening, the positioning of the shutter blades controls the amount of light coming into the room. It is the angle of the tilt that offers that level of control, and this adjustment can be easily manipulated to suit the purpose.
No shutter will completely block out every sliver of light, but with the range of options that our shutters provide, we are confident that we have a product to suit the most discerning client.