Window shutters are a great window treatment for maximizing the amount of natural light in a room. Imagine the times when you’ve walked into a room and it immediately felt warm and welcoming and then the times when you’ve walked into a room with beautiful furnishings and décor but it felt cold and sterile.
It’s all about lighting. Lighting is a powerful, but often overlooked, element in the way home feels. Lighting affects our moods – consider how many homes in the northernmost parts of the country, where daylight is scarce during the month, have sunlight-emulating lighting to keep the blues away – and it’s an essential element in your home’s design.
There are two types of lighting in any home. One is natural lighting, which comes in from the outside. The other type of lighting is artificial lighting, and it comes from bulbs in light fixtures inside the home.
Daylighting, which uses the natural light coming into your home to its full capacity, is what gives a home that warm, cozy feeling. As much as you are able, even if you have some smaller windows, you should incorporate daylighting into your home’s design. The more heavily you rely on artificial light during the day, the less of that warm and inviting feeling your home will have.
The key to successful daylighting is to allow as much light in as you’re able without making the room too hot or giving up privacy. Window coverings like dark, heavy drapes give you no fine control over natural light. Either it’s blocked completely or it’s shining in full strength. Although window treatments like sheers are usually paired with drapes to handle natural light control, they do filter light, but they don’t give much privacy or the ability to maintain a comfortable temperature.
Window shutters, on the other hand, give you lots of control over natural light. You can have them fully open for the maximum amount of natural light, or tilted to let some light in while ensuring privacy, or completely closed for absolute privacy and maximum temperature control.
One way to add more natural light into your home is to use mirrors and wall colors that take advantage of the light. Placing mirrors beside windows will allow the mirrors to reflect light from the windows into the rooms. Not only will it make rooms look bigger, but it will give the rooms more natural light. Using light paint colors on the walls will also give rooms more natural light they reflect light. Dark wall colors absorb light, so rooms with walls that are painted in a dark color will always seem darker, no matter how many windows, mirrors, and artificial lights are there.
Artificial light is not all bad. The key to successfully lighting your home is to layer your lighting. Use multiple sources of light, such as standing lamps, wall sconces, and table lamps, strategically laid out in rooms to create balance and warmth. Add some recessed lighting with a dimmer switch to create accent or mood lighting.
To get the best out of artificial lighting requires choosing the right kind of light bulbs. Daylight bulbs and fluorescent lighting have a cool blue tone, which will not give you the kind of warmth you want in your home. Warm-toned light bulbs that are faintly yellow (soft white with a Kelvin temperature between 1,800 and 3,000) will give you the best temperature for artificial lighting that doesn’t feel cold.
If you’d like to learn about how window shutters can enhance your home’s natural light, you can speak with our experienced staff at McNeill Palm. You can come to our showroom at 655 Grand Blvd Ste 106D, Miramar Beach, FL 32250, or you can call us at (850) 613-6228.