Enjoy your Skylight Window with Custom Shades
Feb 18, 2022Skylights make an excellent addition to any sort of architecture, particularly in homes. They are a great source of natural light and can make your room look larger. They can be installed anywhere, from bathrooms to bedrooms or even lounges. You can significantly enhance the look and feel of your skylight with custom shades.
A single skylight can change the entire look of a room from ordinary to remarkable. The natural light they bring in has various benefits. For instance, skylights give you vitamin D inside your home, counter depression by providing natural sunlight to you at all times, and even help you save up on the electricity bill as your home can utilize natural light to the best it can for the majority of the day.
Most importantly, some skylights give you the option to open them for some excellent ventilation. If you get the type of skylight that has this feature, cooling off humid rooms will be no problem. However, despite all these advantages that skylights are bringing to you, there are some drawbacks as well. In Summers, they can bring in an intense amount of heat inside your house. This causes the temperature of the room to go up significantly.
Also, they can bring in constant unwanted light and cause glares on every screen, which is an annoyance and might prevent you from being able to work in the room which has a skylight in the brightest hours of the day. Due to these issues, you might not be able to fully enjoy having a skylight at all times of the day. Thankfully, there are various window treatments that can help solve these problems. In this article, we are going to share how you can enjoy your skylight windows to the fullest using custom shades.
WHAT TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU BUY CUSTOM SKYLIGHT SHADES?
There are many forms of shades that you can install on your skylight; however, you will need to make sure that the look of the shades matches the theme of the room. No matter if it is a lounge or a bathroom or even a kitchen, a shade that stands out from the rest of the interior will give your skylight a bad look. To make sure this does not happen, you can get custom skylight shades that will match your specific needs. Here is what you need to consider before getting custom shades for your skylight windows:
1. Controlling the Amount of Light
The first thing to consider is the fabric and the amount of light it blocks or brings in. If your skylight is in a bedroom, you might need shades that block out a significant amount of light so you can sleep in peace. But if it is in the kitchen, you will need to get shades that allow soft diffused light to come in. For better light-blocking, blackout skylight blinds are a good option.
If you want to sleep in complete darkness, you can get skylight blackout blinds. Skylight blackout blinds block all light coming inside until you are ready to open them. This makes them great at giving you effective control over your skylight. They are also highly insulating and can be used in theater or media rooms as well. Skylight blackout blinds need to be fitted precisely on your windows in order to block light effectively.
2. Design
As for making the shades match your room is concerned, you have a pretty decent choice, especially when it comes to custom shades for skylight windows. For instance, you can get Roman Shades with any kind of custom print that matches your sofas or curtains for your lounge. Similarly, you can get faux wooden shades for your kitchen. If you don’t like the shades, you can even opt for custom skylight curtains if they fit the ambiance of the room.
3. Temperature Control
Next, you have to consider the cooling and heating loss your skylight is creating. Skylight windows generally raise your room temperature in summers because of poor insulation. As a result, your air conditioners have to constantly work to cool the room down. This brings your electricity bills up significantly. To prevent this, you can get insulating skylight shades installed.
Insulating skylight window shades are great for insulating your room as they create air pockets and trap heat inside them. For winters, they will keep the heat inside and not allow it to escape from the skylight. This keeps the room cozy for a longer period of time in the winter as well. Hence, choosing custom insulating skylight window shades can save you from high electricity bills all year round.
Insulating skylight shades come in many different varieties. Some make use of regular fabrics, while others are made from special thermal materials. Insulating skylight shades are a must-have if you live in a colder region and have skylights.
4. Protection Against UV Rays
With global warming on the rise, the ozone layer has been degrading every year. This means the sun’s rays are becoming more and more harmful. If your skylight is in a bedroom or an office, it means you will be spending a significant amount of time underneath it. To make sure you can enjoy being under it and reap the benefits of natural light, you can get UV ray blocking shades that will prevent the harmful parts of the sun’s rays from entering your room and potentially damaging your skin.
5. How do I install Skylight Covers or Shades?
The measurement of the skylight can be tricky. Getting your shades to fit perfectly on the skylight is crucial. Otherwise, they will not be able to do their work effectively. For this, it is recommended that you get a professional to help you measure and make your very own custom skylight shades for you. Professionals companies, like Alluring Windows, have the proper equipment needed to install shades in high places. Especially if your skylight is large, it is dangerous to try to install them alone.
6. Motorized Skylight Shades
Moving on, another problem you can encounter while having a skylight is the ease of access for both maintenance and the opening and closing of the blinds. In the Roman era, the Romans used to use a 20ft long pole to operate their skylight mechanisms. Thankfully, today we have motorized skylights shades available for use. If your skylight is in a room with a ceiling that is very high up, motorized skylight shades are the best option for you.
Custom motorized shades let you control the shades on your skylight windows with the push of one button. They not only make it easier for you to operate your skylight windows but also enables you to enjoy your skylight even more than before. Motorized skylight shades can even be integrated with your home automation systems. This makes them even more functional. Another cool thing about motorized skylight shades is that they look sleeker.
How are Remote Skylight Shades Powered?
It depends on what kind of motorized shades they are. If they are powered by the sun, i.e., solar-powered skylight shades, they will work through a battery which will be powered by solar panels on the roof. This power source is most effective for windows that receive daylight for the majority of the day.
Some remote skylight shades are hardwired and attached to a button on the wall. The wires should be placed in a place that does not make them stand out. Furthermore, motorized shades can be powered through batteries as well. However, you will need to replace the batteries regularly. The DC Power Adapter seems like the best option for powering motorized shades. It does not need to be replaced, does not rely on any other source of energy like the sun, and lastly, its installation is very simple.
7. Maintaining the Shades
The exterior of skylight shades can be cleaned easily from the roof. However, the real problem is the interior. As far as cleaning the interior of skylight shades is concerned, you might need to call professionals, like Alluring Windows, to help you clean your shades effectively. Thankfully the interior side of the skylight does not get dirty quickly, so you will not need to do it regularly.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
All in all, there are tons of ways you can customize your skylight window shades – The possibilities are virtually limitless. If you want to opt for energy-efficient options, you can go ahead with insulating custom shades. Similarly, if you need to keep your place dark, you can opt for blackout shades. Most importantly, if you want convenience and peace of mind, you can choose custom motorized shades for your skylight windows.
In the end, it all comes down to your needs. Opting for custom shades for your skylight windows might be a little bit costly in comparison to conventional shades readily available in the market. However, it’s worth the cost as you can get to choose whichever design, fabric, or type of shade you need.
Furthermore, you can match it to your interior space to enhance its ambiance. If you have any questions regarding custom skylight window shades, feel free to get in touch with our experts. Also, here at Alluring Windows, we design and install fully custom shades that not only enhance the look of your Skylight windows but also improve their functionality.