Energy-Efficient Window Coverings
My latest DIY is probably one of the easiest and most sensical that I have done to date.
In fact, I am about to share 5 Things I’ve Learned About Installing Energy-Efficient Window Coverings.
Let me start by saying this oh so cliche sentence, ‘Good things come in small packages.’
My small package makes a huge impact in my room.
Whether you have sunshine or moonbeams peeping through your windows a simple DIY will refine this!
In fact, if you suffer from constant blaring streetlights or car lights my simple DIY will change all that.
Those are three little letters I am intimately familiar with, DIY, are about to require no more than a drill, and a level for tools.
Will you want to install energy-efficient window coverings?
Read on, I am sure you will gather your own opinion!
Windows can change your life and mood for both the better and the worse.
While it’s true, windows let the light shine through, it’s great until it’s not!
5 Things I’ve Learned About Installing Energy-Efficient Window Coverings.
Today’s post is sponsored by Therapedic. Opinions & knowledge are my own based on the use of the referenced product: Therapedic® Nantes 100% Blackout Grommet Window Curtain Panel
After a few years of suffering from endless light filtering into my room and a series of less than efficient windows in our newer home, I’m trying something different.
I’m sure you have experienced some of what I am about to discuss or you would not be reading.
Trust me when I state, nothing will compare to the brand I am about to share.
I’ve tested, checked, opened packages touched material and I have done my homework.
You know I only share the best of the best and today is no different!
It’s time to get better sleep and have a more energy-efficient home, and I’ll show you how.
Do you know that at least 25% of your heating and cooling efforts are lost through your windows?
Yep!
So, it’s not just about what comes creeping in (the sun, moon, car lights, etc), it’s about what creeps out (heat and cool)!
Moonbeams, Sunshine And Mayhem & Energy-Efficient Window Coverings
IN my BEFORE image, the windows are just kind of there.
And, even though the wood slat blinds are there, the room is still too brilliant with light, right?
I mean this can be good on some days, but no during the heat of the day!
*Please note, all photos were taken during the morning, noon and night. Even lighting was impossible, in an attempt to share the best results with you.
Now I lay me down to sleep, I close my eyes, but even calling upon sheep, I can’t sleep!
My current situation is one that many experiences, moonbeams shining on throughout the night.
I couldn’t sleep solid because of light was creeping through the blind holes of the strings.
Light is disruptive when trying to sleep, and the moonbeams may be romantic but this gal needs her Zz’s.
Getting The REAL Beige Color
The color below is the real color with lights on and what I see when the sun is shining.
It’s beige.
I LOVE them.
Or maybe the early morning sunshine has visited you?
Really, ‘early to bed, early to rise, makes a person…
I’m not going to finish that with ‘healthy, wealthy and wise’ because its more, tired, irritated, and under-rested!
You wake up for some reason during the wee hours of the morning.
Suddenly you believe you are up and that it is time to be up.
There’s a lot of early morning light in your room, yet you quickly figure out that it’s 5 AM not 6 AM.
Now you are up and you can’t go back to sleep.
What do you do?
You get up and start your day earlier than you wanted to and put on a happy face!
This is what the room darkening dressed windows look like.
And if you keep on scrolling down, I’ll show you why they are so AWESOME.
Hint, it might have something to do with the material!
Shine on Moonbeams and Sunshine, because I’ve Got Energy-Efficient Window Coverings
Our blinds are wooden-slatted blinds, albeit tight-fitting, side-to-side, they are not light proof.
Better than nothing? Yes!
The best we can do for our sanity from gaining restful sleep without light? No!
What did we do?
I purchased a simple rod, with finials, and we hung them.
Basically, it took a level, a tape measure, and a drill.
We ordered our Therapedic® Nantes 100% Blackout Grommet Window Curtain Panel and hung them, and suddenly EVERYTHING changed for the better!
Just for your reference, the window space I hung in from finial to final was 110″.
Ordering 4 to frame this area of the windows was most accurate, I could have gone to 3 for less fullness or 5 for more.
I feel I got it just right, especially for going from NOTHING to coverage.
What Happened After We Installed The Energy-Efficient Window Coverings on These Windows? (1)
Sleep happened.
Free from the exterior light, the sun, the moon, headlights, and any other lights source.
Actually, a lot happened after we installed the energy-efficient window coverings.
First, even if I forget to close the blinds behind, the room is still dark!
Boom!
No moonlight, streetlights, car lights, or sunlight.
It might have a little on the sides as they are not taut but not a single morsel near what I was grappling with before.
The light whether it be the moon or the sun stays out!
Energy-Efficient Was A Total BONUS! (2)
Guess what? The Heat generated from the sunshine stays out.
How do I know that?
The blackout curtains job is to lessen the heat transfer by 20% when it is covering the window.
I experimented with this day after day to see if it was true!
After the sun beat on the windows for 6 hours, I went upstairs and the sitting area is usually what I will call, ‘a tad muggier’ even with the air conditioner running.
But, time after time, it was not warm and muggy.
To reaffirm that the blackout curtains were really the saving grace, I opened them.
Oh, why did I do that?
I felt the heat, it was almost like transference after being bound.
Truly, nothing was passing through the curtains, and they don’t let the heat transfer into the room!
So, it is true that by using energy-efficient, my room was both cooler and darker in the summer.
Which means, no waking up to bright mornings until I am ready!
Cooler Mornings And Energy-Efficient Window Coverings (3)
Just as the energy-efficient window coverings shielded the dastardly early morning sun and the heat of the day, they’ve also created a barrier for our heating.
It’s already been super chilly and we’ve had the furnace on.
There’s less heat transfer via the windows because they armed with Therapedic® Nantes 100% Blackout Grommet Window Curtain Panels.
Oh, how I love these!
Again the area of the room that is always the warmest is also always the coldest in the winter.
No more.
The difference in the area seems less drafty (even though drafty may not be the best word, you get it!).
I am saving on heating too! LOVE it!
Just Say No To Foil, Wax Paper, Hair-Dryer Applied Window Seals, etc!) (4)
So, my one neighbor has the same window area in her sitting room, and her solution was not aesthetically pleasing.
She had suggested that I needed to use those hair-dryer applied window seal papers to my windows.
Not!
They look ugly and after a year, she had not found success with them!
Why did she not just get energy-efficient window coverings?
No one wants a window to look boarded up, or foiled!
These curtains are the answer and they have built-in insulation.
Which means, we are back up to 2, and 3 above, that I just shared.
Do You Sweat While You Sleep? Here’s the solution to stop sweating while you sleep!
Sophisticated, Private and My Own Hotel Room (5)
Here’s my favorite point to share.
While I am so happy I am saving money on heating and cooling after installing my energy-efficient blinds, there’s more to this.
My sitting area really needed to be softened.
There is something just elegant about these dressed windows.
The curtains look sophisticated, and they add dimension to a once lifeless wall.
There’s a hotel-like quality to them.
Imagine your favorite hotel room, the one where you had the best-ever sleep.
We’ve all got our favorites.
Your sleep was perfect because of the hum of the air conditioner and the most perfect energy-efficient window treatments.
Before you slipped off to slumberland, you pulled them together, or across the window and that was all she wrote!
Now, inside my own home, it’s like a hotel.
The dressed windows are shielding from the light and offer great depth in privacy.
If you buy these you will see the build of this very gorgeous material.
They are 100% blackout and machine washable.
Elegant and sophisticated, blackout, energy-efficient window coverings do exist, but to get the best, you want these.