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  1. #1
    mom-in-waiting Guest

    Default Need advice about window treatments for a very sunny (HOT!) nursery-to-be

    We are busy preparing our house for the child(ren) we will be adopting. The room which will be a nursery/child's bedroom faces east (bright early morning sun) and south (INTENSE morning/afternoon sun). Our house does not have central air conditioning. I'm assuming that a window A/C unit would be too intense for a nursery. So keeping that in mind, we'd love any suggestions/advice/anecdotes about options:

    We are looking at cellular shades which have a mylar insert because they reflect the sun's heat back out. These shades are also "total blockout," meaning no light comes through. We have some concerns that total blockout might be too dark.

    There is the option of using multi-cellular shades that do not have the mylar insert, but would allow some filtered light to enter the room. We are unsure of the heat-blocking properties of this product.

    We could go with a composite wood blind ("venetian blinds). This would block some heat, but would allow for flexibilty of light (how you open/tilt the slats).

    Lastly, I suppose is a roller shade, which would block light but probably wouldn't do too much for heat protection.

    Whichever product we choose, we will get with child-safety features, such as cordless or with break-away cords.

    Any thoughts? Thanks so much!

  2. #2
    nfowife is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Default RE: Need advice about window treatments for a very sunny (HOT!) nursery-to-be

    One thing I would recommend independent of your window treatment is to have the windows treated with a film. You can buy some do-it-yourself at home depot or whatever, but we had ours professionally done. We had our very large (floor to ceiling) windows in our family room, our bedroom, and our daughter's room done with a very lightly tinted film that blocks out 80% of the heat. The back of our house faces west and gets a lot of sun in the afternoons and this has helped tremendously! Our daughter has wood blinds on her windows and it works just fine. Yes some light does come in but she goes to bed quite early (around 6:45 p.m., used to be much earlier when she was under 1) and even with the sun fully out she hasn't had a problem sleeping.
    M, mommy to A 2005, E 2007, and L 2010

  3. #3
    tarabenet is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
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    Default RE: Need advice about window treatments for a very sunny (HOT!) nursery-to-be

    We haven't done the film (may very well add it this summer), but we have put up solar screens on the west-facing windows. Makes a huge difference in glare, heat and a/c bills.

    Good luck with the preparations and adoption. May your new family be a very happy one!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2007
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    Denver, CO.
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    Default RE: Need advice about window treatments for a very sunny (HOT!) nursery-to-be

    Cellular shades without the blackout option will do as good of a job with heat protection. You can opt for double cell for more of a light filter than a black out. Check out your local JCPenney's window dept. the have good prices and good promos and they can show you the differences. You can also get the type that is top down AND bottom up to let a little more light in

    I will be ordering black out cordless cellular shade.

    We have black out drapes in our master bedroom, if we didn't we would not be able to sleep past 6am.

  5. #5
    mom-in-waiting Guest

    Default RE: Need advice about window treatments for a very sunny (HOT!) nursery-to-be

    Thank you for your ideas. I have seen the protective film in Lowe's (I'm sure Home Depot carries it as well). I had thought the film was just for cutting down on glare, but it is interesting to learn that it also cuts down on heat. I will definitely check it out!

  6. #6
    mom-in-waiting Guest

    Default RE: Need advice about window treatments for a very sunny (HOT!) nursery-to-be

    Thank you for your kind wishes!

  7. #7
    mom-in-waiting Guest

    Default RE: Need advice about window treatments for a very sunny (HOT!) nursery-to-be

    Thanks for the feedback about the cellular shades without the blackout option. That's kind of what we were hoping to hear! Part of the beauty of our home is that it is so light filled -- and every view out from the window is sooooooo peaceful. We want the light...just need to kill some of the heat. A multi-celled shade might do the trick. I will also check out the suggestion above for protective film.

    Thanks again!

  8. #8
    Tondi G is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Default RE: Need advice about window treatments for a very sunny (HOT!) nursery-to-be

    Just an FYI! We live in an apt without AC and put in two "window" units! We don't leave the AC on all night but we would often crank it up and do our best to cool the room down before the kids went to bed at night and it made a huge difference! Ceiling fans are also quite helpful!

    Good Luck with your window treatments AND with your adoption!

    ~Tondi

  9. #9
    mom-in-waiting Guest

    Default RE: Need advice about window treatments for a very sunny (HOT!) nursery-to-be

    Thanks for your feedback about the A/C units. We do have a window unit for this room (which we have used for adult guests) -- the good thing about the unit is that it has a temperature control. I had thought that any cooled air might be "too cold" for an infant (if we are placed with an infant, that is!) but maybe we'll have to play that by ear. Also, you're right, ceiling fans do work well, but installing one in this particular room would be a bigger project than we're able to take on.

    I've also gotten some good feedback about the "window treatments" (responded posts above). My hope is to have a few options to try and see which combination of them works best.

    Once again, thanks for your feedback AND your kind words.

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