Interior sun protection
Most people love sun and light. But we want to decide where, when and how much sun and light we want.
In our latitudes, bright rooms are preferred in the home, where the sunlight from the windows lifts the mood and interacts beautifully with the interior design. But on hot and sunny days, sunlight can make the indoor climate uncomfortable, and this is where solar shading plays a big and important role.
It is not always possible to use external solar shading. It can be about the architecture of the building, its location in terms of wind conditions, for example, or simply economics.
Less efficient, but easier and cheaper to set up
Internal solar shading is less effective than external or integrated solar shading because it does not prevent the sun’s rays from penetrating the window glass. On the other hand, it’s much cheaper and easier to purchase and replace. Whether it’s curtains, blinds, vertical blinds or roller blinds, you can find them in DIY stores, curtain buses, home improvement stores and even large supermarkets.
While exterior solar shading should ideally blend in with the overall architecture of the building itself, interior solar shading, as with anything placed inside the home or office, inherently becomes part of the interior design of the space itself. So the style of the house or room largely determines which solution you choose.
Interior solar shading is not just about blocking out the sun’s heat – it also has the function of blocking out views, especially in private homes, or strong light, for example in teaching and conference rooms or in a living room where you want to be able to watch TV or your computer screen during the day.
As the interior sun protection sits freely inside the window, it collects dust and dirt and is exposed to touch, pet hair, etc. Therefore, it needs to be kept clean and maintained relatively frequently and more than an external screen.
Curtains… are not just curtains!
And they’re not just for shading from the sun or keeping out prying eyes.
For example, they can also help keep you warm when it’s cold outside. And it doesn’t have to be thick, heavy curtains to work. Today, there are so-called climate curtains that act as part of the house’s insulation and thus improve its envelope; these types of curtains can also have even more functions to improve the indoor climate.
Curtains are often chosen based on what suits the room best. Long or short, decorative or subtle, thick or light, draped or simple. Textiles collect dust, so when choosing fabric blinds, it’s a good idea to consider how they will be cleaned and how often.
Roller blinds
A very neutral solution, either used alone or in conjunction with traditional hanging curtains, are roller blinds. When rolled up, they are barely visible and almost give the impression that there are no curtains at all, so they don’t take up as much space in the home’s style as a hanging curtain, which is always there, even if it’s drawn.
Roller blinds come in many variants, with and without blackout function.
Blackout curtains are great for watching TV or sitting at the computer while the sun is shining outside. And they can be beautiful. The black horrors some may remember have long since been replaced by blackout curtains in all colors, with and without patterns. They are available as simple, manually operated roller blinds, as well as electric or solar powered.
You can also get roller blinds that simply block out the light without dimming it and without shielding much of the view in or out. These curtains will still shield a little from the heat. If you love natural materials, bamboo roller blinds are a great option.
Vertical blinds and roman blinds
Vertical blinds are well suited for large windows, which are especially common in many newly built houses and apartments. They make it possible to adjust and customize the incidence of light as needed. A vertical blind is an obvious choice for a room if you want to create a sleek, modern look.
If you’re more into soft and relaxed shapes, you might want to go for roman blinds in front of your windows. They come in a variety of standard sizes, but some companies will sew them in just about any type of fabric you can think of. Both vertical blinds and roman blinds are available for blackout use.
Venetian blinds
Blinds are flexible and effective when you want to block out the sun. You can choose to completely block out the light, but you can also rotate the blinds to let in a little light, or pull the blinds all the way up to let in the full amount of light.
Blinds come in a multitude of variations in terms of proportions, colors and materials.
