So much for us not going out on weekends! This morning we got up and got going early and were at Lowe’s when they first opened. I can’t even remember why Vince had to go but he did and while we were there, I looked at blinds.
The breakfast room (off the kitchen) has three windows and two of them face east. They all three have these little toppers but the morning sun heats that part of the house up and soon the entire main level seems way too warm. I had wanted to get the room darkening shades and just pull them down from about daylight til 11 a.m. but Vince wants light. Fine . . Vince can pay the electric bill to keep the kitchen cool! 🙂
We got the light filtering that Vince wanted so most of the heat will still come through. My guess is by this time next year we will have replaced those with room darkening but we’ll see.
This window is off the sun room and that all faces south so the sun room kinda blocks some of the heat from coming through there so we didn’t get blinds for those windows.
The first few nights I was here, I was by myself and felt like I wished there were coverings over those two windows that we’re putting blinds on but after having been here a while, not having anything on them didn’t bother me. We never close our blinds in Texas but here, there are neighbors but not real close. I’ll probably close the blinds in the evening.
So, we went to Lowe’s for whatever it was Vince wanted. Found the blinds. Even though I had the window measurements written down, we decided we should go back to the house, re-measure the windows before having blinds cut, and go back to Lowe’s to get them.
On the way home, Vince said “There’s an advantage to having no place to shop!” In Texas, we have so few places to shop, plus just moving into this house, there’s so much we need. Thankfully, we don’t have to get it all this trip.
Gail Frenz says
Have you thought about cellular shades? They are insulating, lightweight, and come in lots of colors. They make a big difference in our home.
Judy Laquidara says
These are cellular. Some are lined (each cell) with something that looks like foil and that makes them “room darkening” and also blocks the heat of the sun but the ones Vince wanted have a much lighter lining and don’t block all the light nor do they block much heat.
Elle says
I’m with you on blinds for the east facing windows. We’re at 5000f elevation. If I close up all blinds but the north side when the sun has risen and hits all that east side glass, I can keep the cabin 20 degrees cooler than it is outside (no AC here) until 7pm when it actually will rise inside another 2-3 degrees while it begins to cool outside. And we have R55 in the ceiling!
It’s good you’ll have 1 summer month power bill before it begins to cool so Vince can see it 😉
Judy Laquidara says
The solar panels will help. At least when the sun is blazing through the windows, it’s also blazing down on the solar panels!
Susan Nixon says
On the other hand, this trip back and forth was shorter. =)