When we think about our home décor, we tend to focus on things like flooring, paint color, furniture, and accents like artwork and window treatments. Often, however, lighting is an afterthought, a merely functional addition to our homes, rather than an essential element of décor.
With some forethought and planning, however, you can make the lighting in your home the perfect complement to your overall interior design. All it takes is the right window treatments to ensure the ideal amount of natural light coming in, and you’ll gain several benefits along the way.
Reduced Need for Electric Lighting
There are many ways in which natural lighting could help you to reduce the expenses of running a household, especially when you have the right window treatments in place to help you meet your goals. For one thing, utilizing natural daylight can help you to cut costs for lighting.
In addition, it could help with your heating expenses. Even if the air temperature outside is cold, if the sun is shining in, it will help to heat your home. During the summer, you can curb this effect by installing solar shades that preserve your natural lighting and your view but virtually eliminate the heat-producing rays coming in, keeping your home cooler.
Don’t forget, using natural light properly throughout your home is also good for the environment. Decreasing your energy demand helps to cut your carbon footprint right along with your utility bills.
Inviting Home Interior
Natural light is generally considered more attractive and soothing than electric lighting, and it tends to help people feel calm, happy, and relaxed. It also infuses your home interior with the glow of the outside world, an effect that is difficult to mimic with artificial lighting sources. Whether you throw your shutters wide to let in full daylight or you diffuse it through sheer curtains or shades for a subtler effect, your home is always more inviting with the warmth of natural daylight.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is an essential nutrient that our bodies don’t produce on their own. While you can get it through some foods or a daily multivitamin, the best natural source is sunlight, and about 15 minutes of exposure a day is all you need. Vitamin D affects the immune system, brain function, weight control, and more. Having natural light in your home could help you to get your needed daily dose.
Happy House Plants
As you may remember from science class, plants need certain things to grow and thrive, including soil, nutrients, water, and of course, sunlight. Not every plant needs direct sunlight throughout the day, but most house plants require at least a modicum of full or diffuse sun on a regular basis in order to remain healthy. If you love having a home filled with gorgeous greenery or flowering plants, harnessing natural light is a must, even if it’s filtered through sheer curtains or shades.
If you’re looking for the perfect window treatments to complement your home and provide optimal light control, contact the qualified professionals at The Blinds Side today at 410-630-6940 or [email protected] to learn more.