What You Never Knew About Windows
Windows let in natural light — sure. But windows are a much more important feature of your interior and exterior home design than merely their admittance of light. The right window can give guests glimpses of natural artwork; it can add structure to a room and establish the overarching design style for the home.
You don’t always get to choose your windows; they tend to come with whatever property you inhabit, and window replacement isn’t a top priority on most homeowners’ remodeling bucket lists. However, in older cities like Washington, D.C., window replacement is sometimes necessary to make a centuries-old home more efficient and more attractive. If you have the opportunity and the urge to replace your windows, you should think long and hard about what kind of windows would work best for you.
Instead of ignoring your windows, you should celebrate them — elevate them to the space in your design that they deserve. Here’s why and how.
Windows to Complement the Room
Different types of rooms benefit from different types of windows. For instance, a room with a tall or multi-story ceiling can emphasize the grandeur with clerestory windows or multi-story windows. Then again, shorter and smaller rooms can welcome in more light using windows with lower sill heights. Windows should emphasize the best features of your rooms while hiding their flaws.
Windows to Frame Your View
If you live in a picturesque place, you can bring the beauty of the outdoors in with the right windows. Floor-to-ceiling windows make it feel like the gorgeous views are just a step away, and picture windows transform your views into vibrant works of art. Even if you don’t live in the mountains or on the beach, check out this website to find a company that can help you to use windows to capture the most attractive views of your garden, so you can enjoy some real-life beauty every day.
Windows to Increase Your Space
Aside from knocking down walls, there isn’t a way to literally increase your home’s square footage. However, you can make a room seem bigger by utilizing your windows properly. Even in small spaces, big windows are an improvement. By doing away with heavy window coverings, you introduce more natural light, which makes a room feel airier and more spacious. To compound this effect, you can hang mirrors on some of the walls to bounce the light around.
Windows to Give Privacy
You might think that adding windows is only appropriate if you don’t care much about your privacy — but in that, you are wrong. While large windows can be revealing, there are ways to build windows into your walls without compromising your privacy or security. A good example is clerestory windows, which sit at the top of your wall and thus make it difficult to see inside. You can also frost your windows or use glass blocks to bring in natural light without a clear view.
A more modern solution to the issue of privacy is electric tint. Windows equipped with this technology can go from crystal-clear to opaque at the flip of a switch. This innovation allows you to do away with window coverings completely and install large, stunning windows in rooms you might not previously have considered doing so, like bathrooms.
Windows to Orient the Room
Because windows aren’t as easily moved as furniture, you typically orient your interior design around your windows. For instance, you cannot hang a television on a window wall; the back light from the window would make the experience of watching TV dissatisfying. Thus, you should use your windows as a guide to orient your room in the proper direction. Alternatively, you can renovate your property and shift your windows around to give your rooms the orientation you desire.
Windows to Provide Variety
Too many homeowners strive for balance and symmetry in their home designs, and in doing so, they opt for identical windows in every room. However, because there are so many different types of windows, limiting yourself to one is locking yourself into one (relatively boring) design style. Windows in a variety of shapes and sizes will add visual interest to your rooms and allow you to play with design in an exciting and appealing way. You can mix and match rectilinear and curvilinear verities, choose windows of custom shapes and more — you’re only bounded by your imagination.
Hopefully by now you see that windows aren’t just a way to bring in light during the daytime. Windows do so much for the structure and style of your home, and you can do more by experimenting with different types of windows in your property.
